My latest project was a large installation of wall drawings at Schaffer Library Learning Commons at Union College, Schenectady, NY. I installed my artwork Monday, March 28th through Thursday, March 31st, 2016, from 9 am to 5 pm. The installation took place during the library hours when students, faculty, staff and the public were able to view the artist at work, informally interacting and observing the creative process in real time and bringing the visual arts from a gallery setting into public spaces. The installation also took place with the help of students, and culminated in public artist talk. I was the fourth featured artist in the Art Installation Series.
By the Patterns
My art installation, By the Patterns, involves wallpapers, stencils and wall painting of complex patterns, icons and design motifs. The patterns in these motifs are representations of cultures and political realities. Wallpapers are digitally designed, incorporating abstract geometrical elements and decorative motifs from Western and Eastern cultures. The combination of different wall-decorating techniques echoes the similar strategies employed in my paintings, but on a much larger scale. The amplification of the scale reinforces the idea of dislocation and coexistence. In addition, there is an interesting, inverse architectural relationship among my paintings and installations. In my paintings, the suggested architectural/three-dimensional space is constantly compromised by decorative elements and flat surfaces. In installations, the patterns yield to or serve the existing architectural space, often enhancing the feeling of depth and scale.– Kira Nam Greene
Kira Nam Greene’s work explores female sexuality, desire and control through figure and food still-life paintings, surrounded by complex patterns. Imbuing the feminist legacies of Pattern and Decoration Movement with transnational, multicultural motifs, Greene creates colorful paintings that are unique combinations of realism and abstraction, employing diverse media such as oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolor and colored pencil. Combining Pop Art tropes and transnationalism, she also examines the politics of food through the depiction of brand name food products, or junk food. Recently, Greene started a figurative painting series spurred by the 2016 Presidential Election, Women’s March, #metoo movement and ensuing crisis of conscience, this new body of work aspires to present the power of collective action by women.