jack fischer gallery
Nina Katz
larger than life
February 22 – March 28, 2020
Opening reception: Saturday, March 7, 5 – 7 p.m.
Minnesota Street Project
1275 Minnesota Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
Jack Fischer Gallery is pleased to present larger than life, a series of portraits of transgender people by Berkeley based artist Nina Katz. Join us for the opening reception on March 7, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at our gallery in Minnesota Street Project. The exhibition will be up through March 28, 2020.
“I am an artist and I am a mother of a transgender child. While deeply committed to both endeavors, I have largely kept the two paths separate. I am openly active and supportive in the Trans community, but my particular and complex journey with my child is a part of my private life, and not my artistic one.
A year ago, the New York Times reported on a memo circulating within the federal government that aimed to strip transgender people from some of their civil rights. It was then that I felt even after years of advocating for my child, the activism I was participating in wasn’t enough. I had to use my art to make a stand.
larger than life is an exhibition of portraits. At sixty-five inches tall and forty-five inches wide, the canvases are almost one and a half times larger than life. The backgrounds are single colored planes of pinks or blues or yellows and the overall palette is vibrant. The subject of each portrait gazes directly at the viewer and they range in age from thirteen to sixty-three. They identify as female, male, gender non-conforming and gender fluid. Their backgrounds are Asian, African American, Latinex and white. There are nine paintings, each oil on wood panel.
The process of each painting begins with a conversation with the subject. I record that conversation, a kind of interview, to capture the subjects’s story in their own words and in their own voice. Afterwards, I photograph them in a place where they feel comfortable, in an outfit they’ve picked out. I paint from the photographs as well as drawing from our conversation to give me a vision of the whole person. While it was important to achieve a strong likeness, I took liberties with the boldness of the palate and in some cases altering the pose.
I painted these portraits out of a desire to support and to share my love for the Trans people in my life and in my community. I also wanted the subjects of these portraits to be more than subjects: I wanted to honor how they see themselves, and to honor how they would like others to see them. As the paintings developed, it became clear to me that audio from each subject’s interview ought to be included in the presentation. Each portrait is paired with an audio clip of the subject discussing aspects of their journey and expressing what it means to them to be trans.
My hope is that these paintings demonstrate the beauty and courage of trans people, that they won’t be silenced, and that they cannot be erased. I want to celebrate them. I want them painted permanently into our society, larger than life and on their own terms.” - Nina Katz
Jack Fischer Gallery Minnesota Street Project 1275 Minnesota Street San Francisco, CA 94107 +1 (415) 522 – 1178
Tues. - Sat. 11:00 - 5:30 p.m. & by appointment *First Saturdays open until 8:00 p.m.
jackfischergallery.com / jackfischer@sbcglobal.net
DZINE GALERY #PORTRAIT SHOW JULY 5, 2016
https://dzineliving.com/artist-interview-nina-katz/
ARTIST INTERVIEW: NINA KATZ
“The portrait serves not so much to provide the answers to questions, but provides the questions themselves, and points to the importance of asking them.” – Nina Katz
Nina Katz is a local Bay Area artist whose work is largely concerned with the figure and portraits. She was born in Brooklyn, NY and spent her formative years in Hong Kong before attending college in Boston and eventually moving to the Bay Area. She is primarily self-taught and has dedicated herself to painting full time for the past 15 years. For our #portrait exhibition, Katz presents a series of paintings on canvas including Queen V, which was named a semi-finalist for the 2016 BP Portrait Award.
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR PROCESS AS A PAINTER?
I spend time with my subjects photographing, taking notes, sketching and just noticing. Back in the studio I’ll do several drawings before I start painting. The drawing phase is probably the most important part of the process as it allows me to get closer to my subject. It’s like what I would imagine a blind person might do by using their fingers to feel every curve and dent in a person’s face to “see them.” When I start on the painting it’s a matter of drawing with the paint; layering and scraping and moving the paint around until I feel the essence of the person.
When not painting direct portraits, but figurative and landscapes, the technical process is the same. I still look for a feeling or emotional sense of the place or figure to come alive in the process.
YOU’VE SAID THAT YOU DO NOT PAINT DIRECTLY, BUT “AROUND” YOUR SUBJECTS – CAN YOU ELABORATE ON WHAT YOU MEAN BY THIS?
To me an eye is not an eye, or a nose a nose. I paint in broad strokes, the darks and lights defining shape as I gradually close in on what I feel and see is the person or subject before me. I continue to add and scrape away paint until the subject emerges. A likeness or recognition of the person comes from subtle expressions unique to that person – the wrinkle around their eyes or edge of the mouth, for example. I move the paint around until it gets there, rather than draw or fill it in precisely.
YOU WERE RECENTLY NAMED A SEMIFINALIST FOR THE BP PORTRAIT AWARD BY THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY IN LONDON FOR YOUR QUEEN V PAINTING – A HUGE HONOR! WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND BEHIND THIS WORK? WHAT INFLUENCED THIS PAINTING?
It is a huge honor and I am so grateful. Queen V is part of an ongoing series of portraits of people I know, primarily in the world of artists, writers and creators, and started at a time when my style of more loosely painted portraits was emerging.
Queen V is a portrait of Vivienne Flesher, an artist and illustrator for The New York Times, amongst many other reputable publications. I spent hours looking at her own illustrative work and used her sense of color. She is a very strong, beautiful person with an understated sense of humor behind a very regal poise. Once I saw this stately, commanding personality staring back at me the title Queen V felt apt.
People. Their lives, struggles, motivations. I am intrigued by the hero, the criminal, the innocent and the victim. A sense of wonder about who they are beyond what is on the surface. My challenge is to use the paint in a way that gets at that. I am inspired when I find a painting that can truly surprise me and keep me fixated on the image, even when I can’t put into words what draws me in.
BROKEASSSTUART.COM BLOG OCTOBER 16, 2015
https://brokeassstuart.com/blog/2015/.../artists-you-should-visit-at-open-studios-wknd-...
ARTISTS YOU SHOULDN’T MISS AT OPEN STUDIOS WKND 1
NINA KATZ (2 ARTSPAN JUROR SELECTIONS)
Nina Katz is a self-taught artist who was born in the projects of Brooklyn. As a child, her family moved to Hong Kong, where she spent her formative years. Katz eventually moved back to the states and obtained a degree in nursing but then tried a career change working for a tech start up in Silicon Valley. About 20 years ago, Katz decided to start painting seriously and is now a full time artist creating paintings in her Berkeley home.
This weekend, Katz will be exhibiting, “A Year of Portraits From the New York Times Obituaries.” It is one of Katz’s early projects that unintentionally came into fruition. “I always read the obituaries because I love reading about people’s lives, wonderful and tragic as it is, said Katz. “And when I started that project, I was looking for a daily drawing practice. I wanted to do one thing every day.” Katz’s intent was to see how her daily drawing practice of a similar subject would impact her drawing skills over time. Her initial commitment to the obituaries was only for a couple of months in order to hone her skills, but the project eventually blossomed into a full year committed practice that resulted in 365 sketched portraits in 12 Moleskine books.