“The Second Poloroid Ever Taken”  Oil on Linen. Kimberly Brooks.
Image Courtesy Taylor De Cordoba

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2006

“The Whole Story” Kimberly Brooks Solo Exhibition
Portraits and Contemplations of Women
Solo Exhibition May 5 – 27, 2006

Los Angeles – The Risk Press Gallery, an alternative space for emerging artists, is pleased to present The Whole Story, a solo exhibition of oil paintings by Kimberly Brooks.  The show runs from May 5 – 27, at 8533 Melrose Avenue, Tuesday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Kimberly Brooks’ portraits of women investigate the roles of women as artists and subjects of the “gaze”. The artist examines female identity over time, culling her portrait subjects from contemporary women and early 20th century imagery.

The show’s title piece displays one of Brooks’ signature styles of breaking canvases into byte-like squares and installing them out-of-sequence and off-kilter.  The nude subject’s compliant gaze in this painting competes with the impending disintegration of its surface. “Mom’s Friend” captures a past sensuality as seen through a child’s eyes.

In “The John Ashcroft Show,” Brooks depicts a large nude torso, painted in reaction to the then U.S. Attorney General who covered the nude statues at the Department of Justice.

With vibrant colors and unique installations, Brooks often crops or spreads her figures over several canvases, reflecting the historical glorification of women’s body parts into elected zones of pleasure.  By assuming the role of the artist and recontextualizing these images, Brooks’ places women as spectators, making notions of objectification, voyeurism, and empowerment freshly relevant.

About the Artist
Kimberly Brooks works in oil painting and new media.  Her work has been featured in numerous juried exhibitions whose jurors include Jordan Kantor of MOMA, Joan Hugo of the California Institute of the Arts and Chris Burden.

After earning a bachelor of arts at UC Berkeley, Brooks spent a year in Paris painting. She returned to the United States to begin a successful career in design and new media. She founded the design and technology collective Lightray Productions and likens technology to painting with photons.  Brooks studied painting at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, and new media at the American Film Institute.

About Risk Press Gallery
The Risk Press Gallery is an alternative space for emerging artists that allows them to experience the exclusive showing of their own work. Each month a different artist immerses themselves in the gallery environment. The artists are selected by Chuck Pendergast who founded the gallery in 2003.  The Risk Press Gallery does not require artists to pay for their time in the gallery, nor does it take any of the proceeds from artwork that is sold there.  Each artist is only asked to create a self-portrait and donate it to the gallery to mark their effort and achievement.   A show of artist self portraits who have shown at the gallery will be on display November 2006.

For more information or hi-rez images of Kimbelry Brooks’ work, contact:  Amy Spach at 310-472-0834 or email art@kimberlybrooks.com.

For more information about Risk Press, visit www.riskpress.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vanity Fair Host Kimberly Brooks Exhibition
248 Rodeo Drive
September 28 – Oct 13

Los Angeles, CA – Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to announce that the artwork of Kimberly Brooks will be on view in Beverly Hills from September 28 – October 13.   The exhibition will consist of recent works from her show “Mom’s Friends” and will debut several new pieces which incorporate fashion imagery and textiles from different eras.

“The Conversation: Portrait of Elsa Schiaparelli” by Kimberly Brooks.
30 x 40 in. Oil on Canvas

Kimberly Brooks explores issues of feminine identity, nostalgia, idolization and womanhood. In “Mom’s Friends”, she introduces the women she literally looked up to as a child, depicting the women who helped to form her own identity while growing up in Marin County in the late 1970′s.

In the wake of the Sexual Revolution, the model of a modern woman was taking shape. Brooks paints sexy, confident and stylish women in their element: cooling their feet in the pool, waiting at the train station, contemplating amidst the woods of Big Sur and laughing at parties. She invokes the fashions of the time with her representations of luscious furs, bold patterns, oversize sunglasses and unique flea market finds.

In the span of a few years, nearly all of these women in her mom’s circle of friends would find themselves divorced as a result infidelity, boredom and the need to establish their own identities. Brooks uses her own personal memories and photographs to re-create the harmonious and utopian moment just before it all came crashing down.

The artist takes cues from traditional portraiture, fashion photography, 1970s Polaroids and today’s ubiquitous candid celebrity snapshots to create her modern style.

Kimberly Brooks’ work has been featured in numerous juried exhibitions organized by curators from the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art and California Institute of the Arts among others. Brooks earned her B.A. from UC Berkeley and trained in fine arts at Otis College of Design and UCLA. She lives in Los Angeles and maintains her studio in Venice, CA.

Selected works can be viewed at www.kimberlybrooks.com.  Kimberly Brooks is represented by Taylor De Cordoba in Culver City. For additional press information, contact Heather Taylor at heather@taylordecordoba.com or (310) 559-9156.

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