Kim Uchiyama
Artist Statement:
Ancient temple sites found in Sicily, Greece and Turkey are inspirations. I use color to create light and to construct a visceral sense of place. Simple formal relationships, such as those found in ancient classical orders, fuse the language of architecture with the language of abstract painting. This group of work also embodies references to the elemental nature of ancient sites: their light, air, temperature, and a sense of the viewer’s bodily relationship to the architecture. Large canvases help to convey the scale and physical experience of these places. I often work to develop a conversation between painting forms by intentionally leaving some canvas areas unpainted. The exposed linen ground can then act as a ‘negative’ shape, in dialogue with the painted forms. Palette choices are influenced by the earth tones of Pompeiian frescoes, but also by the soft, clear light of Italian Quattrocento painting.
Artist Biography:
Kim Uchiyama was born in Des Moines, IA in 1955. She lives and works in New York City. Uchiyama has had 20 solo exhibitions in the past 40 years, including recent solo shows at Helm Contemporary, New York, The Lobby Gallery at 499 Park Avenue, Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, New York, and Spazio Contemporaneo Agora’, Palermo, IT. Her work has been included in many regional institutional exhibitions, most recently at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Drake University, Des Moines, IA, Louisiana State University Art Museum and University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Uchiyama’s work has been reviewed in The New York Times, ARTnews, The Brooklyn Rail, The New Criterion, The Hudson Review, The Hopkins Review, Artcritical.com, Hyperallergic Magazine, and Two Coats of Paint. She is a New York Foundation for the Arts award recipient, a two-time MacDowell fellow, current Artist-in-Residence at Art Cake, Brooklyn, and President of American Abstract Artists.
AAA:
Member Since: 2014
President: 2025 to Present
Committees: Executive (Chair),
Publications, Nomination & Membership
