Q&A

After a showing in New York, Art Critic/Writer and Reviewer, Dennis Spafford asks,

“ . . . I have studied and written about art for years, and have had to “critique” many pieces of art. When viewing your pieces, I really enjoyed your color scheme, the position of the subjects, and the amazing depth and detail of the faces. I was discussing with a collaborator on your Annie Lennox piece on how amazingly you conveyed a sense of strength and confidence about Annie. You choose to make her head the center of the piece, to which you have applied great amount of detail and time, however the body was lacking, it looked thin . . .was this your intention? On the same note, choosing the color green intrigued me. In Art History, using greens for the face and body in religious paintings, especially that of the Madonna, have made an inference of death , mortality, and other worldliness. Were you making a statement about Annie Lennox/Female celebrities by using the color green?”

Katherine’s Response,

“ I create by attempting to capture the individual’s essence or personality. Where they are vibrating, not just a realistic, recognizable image. The eyes, have been said to be a ”window to the soul”, therefore I focus on the facial features which I believe are a direct reflection of who that individual is. The body can be cloaked or exposed, it is just a vehicle or shell that we run around in. We are all energy and we all have a unique energetic auric field. I try to interpret this field by putting on the individual’s music and what I hear and feel from that person while they are in their creative zone is what I see in color. Often, not always, the colors are based on the Indian yogi chakra system. There are seven major chakras where the nerve endings meet in the spinal cord in the body and they vibrate to a certain unique color. . . Annie is spiraling out of the earth as a strong, androgenous, powerful, playful, fairy like creature. She feels to have a battle between male and female waging within her and has often chosen to allow one to overshadow the other depending on where she is creatively. She is empowered and confident enough in both to express herself with strength and conviction. Therefore, the green and blue represent the earthy quality we feel from her music, as well as correlating to the heart(green) and throat(blue) chakras in the energy chakra system. The body is twisted and thin, because it will be undoubtably re-configured, cloaked or exposed as she chooses it to be and so I do not feel that it is a important as what she is communicating through her heart and voice . . .“

Quotes

“ . . .The art world’s equivalent to Jeff Buckley, Katherine’s work is at once awe-inspiring, thought provoking and deeply enigmatic. When creating a piece she immerses herself in the artist’s music, delving into their heartstrings and discovering the essence of their soul. She simply paints what she hears, resulting in stunning, introspective visual characterizations . . .”

- Rock & Roll Music Industry, Publicist, Natalie Kilgore

“Here’s what Katherine, the one-name artist who painted “No Regrets Cash,” had to say to “The Rage” about the polarized reactions to the colors she used in the piece: “Maybe it does bother them, maybe not. At least they have to stop and get to know themselves honestly enough to answer the question. If a viewer has response, then that is needed”. And there you have, in a nutshell, this artist’s mission statement. Katherine seeks “to help others get to their truths,” and believes that “if you’ve made someone feel something, you’ve done your job.” Hence, if the green Cash agitated you or moved you or turned you on/off, mission accomplished.”

- “The Rage”, Staff Writer, Jonathon Flax

Artist Comments

“One of the best compliments I ever received was that an individual at a showing had to be escorted out of the building due to their violent reaction to the fact that Johnny Cash was green . . .I was thrilled” - Katherine

“I listened to 40 hours of Kenny Chesney’s music during the creation of his portrait . . . Fortunately for me, I am a fan.” - Katherine

“After the “George Choices Jones” showed, I had two different people come up to me and say that they could smell the alcohol coming off of the piece . . .wow, I thought, SUCCESS!” - Katherine

“Warner Brothers Recording Artist Ray Scott was one of the first musicians I ever painted that I knew and had met before I actually produced the piece . . . that was a very strange feeling . . .to create and capture someone’s essence and artistic expression you must delve deeply into their energy . . .and then to see them in person again after that process was very unsettling, like you know them on such a deeper level . . .it was my pleasure to work with such an amazing creative soul like Ray.” - Katherine