Kim McCarty explained

Kim McCarty (born February 10, 1956, in Los Angeles, California)^[1] is an artist and watercolor painter living and working in Los Angeles, California.^[2] Her work has been exhibited in over twenty solo exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles.^[3] She often works in large formats using layers of monochromatic colors.^[2]

Career and work

McCarty works in a wet-on-wet watercolor technique, normally associated with oil painting, in which the paint is applied to a moistened sheet of paper.^[4] She began working in the watercolor medium in 1993, after her studio was destroyed by a fire and was unable to find a space with proper ventilation for oil paint. A 2015 review by Hunter Drohojowska-Philp notes that McCarty is known best for paintings of young, unclothed men and women; it describes her work in that show—images of rabbits and dogs—as unpredictable and spontaneous.^[5]

Education

^[1] 1988 University of California, Los Angeles, M.F.A. (Master of Fine Arts). 1980 Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA, B.F.A. (Bachelor of Fine Arts).

Professional life

Solo exhibitions

2015

Maloney Fine Art, Culver City, CA
Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY

2013

Kim McCarty Paints, Santa Monica Museum, Santa Monica, CA^[6] ^[7]

2012

David Klein Gallery, Detroit MI
Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY^[8]

2009

Lightbox Gallery, Los Angeles, California
David Klein Gallery, Detroit, MI

2006

Kim McCarty, cherry and martin, Los Angeles, California

2005

Kim McCarty, Briggs Robinson Gallery, New York, NY

2003

Under Glass, cherrydelosreyes, Los Angeles, California
Watercolors, Santa Barbara Contemporary Art Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
Kim McCarty, Alysia Duckler Gallery, Portland, Oregon

2002

Kim McCarty, Rebecca Ibel, Columbus, Ohio
Kim McCarty, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna, CA

2000

Kim McCarty, Recent Paintings, De Chiara/ Stewart, New York, NY

1999

Kim McCarty, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna, CA
Kim McCarty, Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho

1998

Drawings, Works on Paper Inc. Los Angeles, California

1997

Helen, Deanna Izen Miller Gallery, Venice, CA

1996

Recent Paintings, Sharon Truax Fine Art, Venice, CA

1992

Recent Paintings, Janie Beggs Gallery, Los Angeles, California

Group exhibitions

2014

Watercolor, Griffin Fine Art, London, England
New York Armory, David Klein Gallery, New York

2012

Wet, Kim McCarty/Natalie Franks, Eden Rock Gallery, St Barthes,
New York Armory Modern, David Klein Gallery, New York
Fresh, MOCA, Los Angeles, California
Selling Sex Show, studio, London, England
Twisted Sister, Dodge Gallery, New York, NY

2011

California Contemporary, Scott White Gallery, San Diego CA
Inaugural Exhibition, Heiner Contemporary Gallery, Washington DC
Eve, Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles, California
Art Platform, David Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, California

2010

Dis-a-pear, Island Weiss Gallery, New York, NY
Fresh Figures and Abstraction, Scott White Gallery, San Diego, CA
View to the Soul, Portraiture Old and New, Heather James Gallery, Palm Desert,
Medium is the Message, Peninsula School of Art, Fish Creek, WI

2009

Blue, Blue, Kim Light/Lightbox Gallery, Culver City, CA
Draw the Line, Lora Schlesinger Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Dillitantes, Divas and Dandies, Gavlak Projects, Palm Beach, FL
Watercolorland, Samuel Freeman Gallery, Los Angeles, California

2008

Ces Enfants Etranges, Shore institute of the Arts, New Jersey
Black Dragon Society exhibition, Black Dragon, Los Angeles California
Contemporary Art, Galerie Sho Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Artists Portraits of Artists, Pace University Gallery, New York, New York

2007

Empty Nest, The Changing Face of Childhood in Art, 1880 to the present,
Nathan A Bernstein Gallery, New York, November 1 to January 12, 2008
Hammer Contemporary Collection: Part 2, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California
The Unexpected Watercolor, Lee Center for the Arts, Seattle University, Seattle, WA

2006

100 artists, 100 watercolors, Jeannie Freilich Fine Art, New York
August Light, Great Barrington, MA
Figuratively Speaking, Part 2, Elika Wimmer Gallery, New York, NY
LA: Now, Dominique Fiat Galerie, Paris, France
Portrait Show, Pharmaka Gallery, Los Angeles, California

2005

Contemporary Erotic Drawings, DiverseWorks, Houston, Texas
Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT
Liquid Los Angeles: Currents of Contemporary Watercolor Painting Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA
The Unexpected Watercolor, The Art Gym, Marylhurst University, Portland, OR
Painted Ladies, William D. Cannon Art Gallery, Carlsbad, CA

2004

Drawn to the Present, Pace University Gallery, Pleasantville, NY
What's Doin?, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Summer Group Show, Cherrydelosreyes, Los Angeles, California
New Talent and Familiar Faces, Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles, California
LA Woman, Gallery C, Hermosa Beach, CA
Expect: Art, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, NY
Behind Door Nine, UCSB University Art Museum, Santa Barbara. CA

2003

International Paper, UCLA Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California,
Smoking Pencils Rolling Papers, Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles, California
The Great Drawing Show 1550–2003, Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Wet Paint, Brea Art Gallery, Brea, California Biosystems, USC Institute of Genetic Medicine Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Multiple Expressions, Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles, California

2002

What a Painting Can Do, Hayworth Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Toyland, Alysia Duckler Gallery, Portland, Oregon
A Thousand Clowns, Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2001

Re-Configuration, Central Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, Beijing, China
Re-Configuration, Modern Chinese Art Foundation, Ghent, Belgium

2000

H2O, Works On Paper, Inc. Los Angeles, California
For Example, Acuna Hansen, Los Angeles, California
Paintings, Rebecca Ibel Gallery, Columbus, Ohio
Exhibition, New Jersey Center For The Arts, Summit, NJ
Certain Things: Unlikely Treasures, Elsa Mott Ives Gallery, New York, NY
MOCA Auction, MOCA, Los Angeles, California

1999

Works on Paper, Rebecca Ibel Gallery, Columbus, Ohio
Traces New Drawing, Katrina Traywick Gallery, Berkeley, CA

1997

LA Current: A Media Fusion, UCLA Gallery at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
The Painted Image, Deanna Izen Miller Gallery, Venice, CA
Group Exhibition, Sharon Truax Fine Art, Venice, CA
LA Current: The Female Perspective, UCLA Gallery / Armand Hammer Museum, L.A.

1995

LA Woman, Lutz Hegenbarth, Cologne, Germany

Selected public and private collections

^[9]

Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY * UCLA Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
The Microsoft Collection, Seattle, WI * Judith Rothschild Foundation, New York, NY
Latham and Watkins, New York, NY * Neuburger and Berman, Los Angeles, California
Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii

Bibliography

Vogue, Irene Neuwirth, index, March 2013
Huffington Post, Boys and Girls Brings Uncertain Humanity to Morgan Lehman Gallery, November 14, 2012
Elist Jasmine, Subliminal Projects Gallery "Eve" is all about Female Creation. LA Times. July 28, 2011
S.R. Leher, Kim McCarty At Kim Light/Lightbox, Los Angeles, Art on Paper, September/October 2009
Miles, Christopher, Kim McCarty, LA Weekly, April 30, 2009
Drohojowska-Philp, Hunter, Artist's Pick, Artnews, February, 2006
Pincus, Robert, "Ladies and Dreamscapes", The San Diego Union Tribune, June 30, 2005
Genocchio, Benjamin, "Erotic Goes Mainstream" The New York Times, Sunday, May 8, 2005
Karlins, N.F. "Teenage Tempest", Artnet, Thursday, April 7, 2005
Lombardi, D. Dominick, "Drawn to the Present", The New York Times, Sunday, October 17, 2004
Jones, Lesli, "Step into Liquid", Art on Paper, July/August, 2004
Frank, Peter, "Mark Steven Greenfield, LA Woman," Pick of the week, LA Weekly, May 4–10, 2004
Wood, Eve, Mojo Rising," Artnet, May 2, 2004
Pence, Elizabeth, "LA Woman," Artweek, May, 2004
Green, Tyler, "DC Dairy, Revival of Painting," Artnet, March 17, 2004
New American Painting, 49th Edition, 2003, (cover)
El-Diri, Hanadi, "Youth," An-Nahar, Beirut, Lebanon, July 3, 2003
Mageean, Sean, "The Dreams of Children, New Watercolors, by Kim McCarty," The Independent, June 12, 2003
Donelon, Charles, "Brutal Youth," Santa Barbara News Press, May 2003
Frank, Peter, "International Paper," Art on Paper, April 2003
Chen, Eva, "Artists," Elle Magazine, April 2003
Dambrot, Shana Nys, "Kim McCarty at cherrydelosreyes," Artweek, March 2003
Knight, Christopher, "Drawing Not Toeing the Line," Los Angeles Times, February 7, 2003
Ohlman, Leah, "Teens Stripped of Their Veneer," Los Angeles Times, February 7, 2003
Fyer-Kohles, Jeanne, "Two Rooms best for vastly different works," Columbus Dispatch, November 2002
Green, Robert, "Artist Curates," Artforum, April 2002
Wei, Lilly, "Elsewhere, Everywhere, Here," catalog essay, "Re-configuration," 2001
Galleries New York, Contemporary Art Report, October 2000
Kokot, Sharon, "Works on Paper" hardly flimsy," The Columbus Dispatch, June 1999
Kaplan, Peggy Hall, "Malibu Artist Draws Her Motivation from Experiencing Trial by Fire," Malibu Surfside News, February 11, 1999
Clothier, Peter, "Inside-Out," catalog essay for Kim McCarty, Works on Paper, Inc. August 28. 1998
Irmas, Deborah, "L.A. Summer Surf," Artnet, July/August 1998

References

Morgan Lehman Gallery website. Accessed December 15, 2015 http://www.morganlehmangallery.com/attachment/en/5331addecc8e1a98618b4568/TextOneColumnWithFile/533315266b921a2e138b4618
Maloney Fine Art website. Accessed December 2, 2015 http://www.maloneyfineart.com/#!mccarty/cksq
Artspace.com. Accessed January 13, 2016
Artsy.net. Accessed December 15, 2015 https://www.artsy.net/artist/kim-mccarty
Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, "Sadie Benning and Kim McCarty", KCRW Art Talk, January 15, 2015. Accessed April 13, 2020.
Refinery29. Accessed January 13, 2016 http://www.refinery29.com/kim-mccarty-santa-monica-museum-of-art#slide
Opening Ceremony. Accessed January 13, 2016 http://www.openingceremony.us/entry.asp?pid=7469
Watercolor.net. Accessed January 13, 2015 http://watercolor.net/kim-mccarty-boys-and-girls/
Artspace website. Accessed January 3, 2016 http://www.artspace.com/kim_mccarty