Kate Shepherd

Kate Shepherd is an esteemed artist known for her richly colored paintings and exploration of perspectival space.

Biography of Kate Shepherd

Kate Shepherd was born in 1961 in New York City, USA. Her educational background includes an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York (1992), studies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine (1990), a Master’s Certificate from the New York Academy of Art (1986), and a BA from Oberlin College in Ohio (1982). Additionally, she attended the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York (1982) and studied at Atelier Lucio Loubet in Paris.

Shepherd has exhibited her work in museums and galleries across the United States and Europe since 1994. Her recent solo exhibitions include "Something About Shapes" at Anthony Meier in Mill Valley (2024), "Kate Shepherd: News" at Hiram Butler Gallery in Houston (2021), "Surveillance" at Galerie Lelong & Co. in New York (2020), and many more. 

Her works are part of numerous prestigious museum collections, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Baltimore Museum of Art, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Des Moines Art Center, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Phillips Collection, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and Seattle Art Museum.

Currently, the artist lives and works in New York City. 

Kate Shepherd's Art Style

Renowned for her richly colored paintings composed of layered monochromatic enamel, Shepherd has spent decades exploring perspectival space. Her work investigates the relationship between paintings and their surroundings, with various reflective surfaces creating a spatial discourse that connects the panel, the viewer, and the gallery space. Shepherd's paintings often feature joined wood panels as their base, resembling architectural forms, and resulting in gleaming, reflective surfaces that interact dynamically with the viewer’s reflections.

Shepherd's technique involves interrupting the glossy enamel with areas sanded down to produce velvety fields, revealing pentimenti of color and faint lines of obliterated brushstrokes. Her paintings are situationally reactive to light and movement, giving them sculptural characteristics as they constantly change. Shepherd's oeuvre also includes works on paper, which continue her exploration of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, showcasing her ongoing evolution in examining color relationships.