Katie Gamb
“Chrysalis”
Exhibition runs: September 18th – October 17th, 2021
Haven Gallery is honored to present US (Wisconsin) based artist Katie Gamb for her first solo show “Chrysalis”, at the gallery. “Chrysalis” will feature seventeen oil paintings that imaginatively intertwine the artists youthful and furry protagonists with elements of nature and metamorphosis. Themes of adaption and change can be seen throughout the works as humans, animals and plant life are transmogrified to become symbiotic amalgamations, unifying the human and natural world. Gamb’s use of pastel and jewel tones highlight the sense of nostalgia, sweetness and hope, commonly found in the artists works. Her sitters are never alone; whether the are embraced by insects, flowers or animals, one is always comforted by the exquisite animate connections that surround us all. “Chrysalis” is a lighthearted reminder of the continued movement and perseverance of life, as beings continue to metamorphoses and evolve even in the most darkest of times.
About the Artist
Katie Gamb is an illustrator living and painting in a small, cozy corner of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her love of narrative and the natural world informs her artwork, which is strongly influenced by the fairy tales she immersed herself in as a shy, bookish child, as well as the forests she wandered growing up in the rural Midwest. She particularly enjoyed studying tiny worlds that often went unnoticed, creating backstories and personalities for the creatures she came across. She moved to Milwaukee to pursue her BFA in Illustration from the Institute of Art and Design.
Katie primarily works in oils, painting small-scale narrative and dream-like scenarios of both animals and humans. She teaches illustration part-time at MIAD, and shows her work in galleries throughout the US. Although most of her time is spent drawing and painting, she still reads voraciously and wanders among the trees whenever she gets the chance.
Statement:
The past year has been a bewildering time for most of us. The ideas for most of these pieces came to me in early spring 2021, after almost a year of quarantining, worrying, disinfecting. While they all contain a fair amount of yearning to be free from confines, their creation has been an act of comfort during a year of great uncertainty.
