Karen Seapker
Biography
Karen Seapker (b.1982, Pittsburgh, PA) is a painter who navigates physical, emotional, and intellectual connections through use of bold color combinations, historical references, shifting lines, and disrupted spaces.
Seapker received her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and Art History from Muhlenberg College in 2004 and her Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Hunter College in 2009. Her work has been exhibited internationally including shows at James Cohan Gallery, The Andy Warhol Museum, California College of the Arts, and the Crystal Bridges Museum.
Haystack Perspective
Karen Seapker paints abstract figuration with an eye for movement. The compositions are dynamic, surprising, and packed with visual tricks, art historical references, and saturated colors. One signature device for Seapker is the paint stroke that pulls various colors across the canvas, leaving streaks where the paint wasn’t saturated enough to continue the line. These strokes have the unmistakable mark of the hand and its imperfect movement, accompanied by gradient color fields in surprising geometric situations. At times, a hand or foot will emerge, making the viewer reassess the other shapes for more figuration. At times recalling Gerhard Richter, the paint whooshes by in a moment that looks the way time feels. This velocity is felt across this painter’s oeuvre.