June 7, 2010
COLUMBIA, S.C.--- City Art Gallery presents Santee artist Kathy Casey in a solo exhibit entitled Hot . . . a passion for painting opening Thursday June 17 and continuing through August 14, 2010. The public is invited to a reception to meet the artist Thursday June 17 between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m.
Kathy Casey developed her unique painting style through a process of exploration and study. The active lines and engrossing colors that fill Casey’s canvases show a strong influence of abstract expressionism. In the newest paintings there is a recurring theme of warmth. Reds, oranges, pinks and yellows mingle to create a sense of a heated urban or earthy landscape. Casey’s work tends to be completely non-objective rather than tell a story. This forces the viewer to be a participant and decide what something means. Casey likes to leave enough mystery so the viewer can decide his or her own connection to the works.
“The paintings that I love have a life of their own,” said Casey, “I have a quote by Jackson Pollock hanging on my studio wall: ‘Every good painter paints what he is.”
Her nonobjective paintings evoke the spirit of a natural evolution that results from the passage of time. Each is about flux – the ever-changing nature of life. There is no literary narrative in the work. Instead, each piece serves as a metaphor for life: birth and death, creation and decay, growth as a transformation. Partially hidden words, either written in the artist’s hand or in the found collaged papers, often appear in the paintings and add personal meaning to the works.
The paintings in this exhibition of Casey’s work are done in mixed media including: acrylics, charcoal, crayon and /or collage on hand-textured canvas or paper. “I love to try new things,” she said, “It is just not in my nature to be still. My palette goes from calming neutrals to crazy loud colors, and everything in between. It always depends on the day. My painting style is a mirror of my life. Some days are peaceful and some days are all out wild. I don’t really have a favorite style. I always like what I painted today better than what I painted yesterday and I hope it’s always like that.”
Exhibition dedicated to Harry Greenberg.
City Art Gallery is located at 1224 Lincoln St. in the historic Congaree Vista area in Columbia, South Carolina. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday 10:00 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information contact Wendyth Wells, City Art Gallery, at 803-252-3613. Visit online at www.cityartonline.com
The State, November, 23, 2007
Review By Jeffrey Day
Right around the corner at City Art you can find a nice large show of nice, rather large abstract paintings (with a little collage mixed in) by Kathy Casey. Casey, who is largely self-taught, lives in Santee, where she creates these subtle, formal pieces. The paintings are not earthshaking, but they are well-crafted and pleasing to the eye. Although most are formal and geometric, several also have an organic feel to them, kind of like slowly bubbling volcanoes - and these do shake the earth a bit. The show was put together by Evan Donevant, new assistant gallery director at City Art. This is a bigger show than usual and it suits the space well. Through Dec. 20 at City Art, 1224 Lincoln St. (803)252-3613
Carolina Arts, November 2007
City Art Gallery in Columbia, SC, presents Santee, SC artist Kathy Casey in a solo exhibit entitled, Painting Textures, which opens on Nov. 14 and continues through Dec. 20, 2007. The show will also be on view Nov. 15, from 5-10pm for Columbia's Vista Lights celebration.
Mainly a self-taught artist, Casey developed her unique painting style by exploring many of the more well known techniques: Realism, Impressionism, and Cubism, until finally finding her place in Abstract Expressionism. Influences from artists such as Robert Motherwell and Franz Kline, both well-known abstract expressionists, can be seen in the active lines and engrossing colors that fill her canvases.
Casey's work is the result of self-exploration. Therefore, she never knows quite where the artistic progression will take her. She describes her painting process as beginning with a "loosely conceived plan" which she eventually abandons as the work takes on new meanings. As she works, Casey states, "Mark, line, and gesture are worked into a textured surface, and partially concealed with heavy paint, layers of glazes, and scumbled colors. Paint is pushed in and scoured away. I search for beauty in the seemingly imperfect, unearthing and embracing subtle details that beckon the viewer to linger and look more closely."
Over time, Casey's process of push and pull with her materials develops into work that has a great deal of physical and emotive substance. Avoiding subject matter and narrative, Casey instead focuses on subtle details that make it possible for the viewers to become participants, deciding how the work affects them on a personal level. Casey draws inspiration from her own life experiences, and hopes that her viewers will interpret the work by doing the same.
