Kay Kurt

Kay Kurt (born 1944) is an American New Realist painter known for her large-scale candy paintings.

Biography

Kurt was born in Dubuque, Iowa. She attended Clark College in her home town, earning a BFA in 1966. In 1968 she completed an MFA in painting from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. As a graduate student she developed her signature style and subject matter: candy painted up-close and in meticulous detail, often on enormous canvases. Typical candies featured in her oeuvre include licorice, bon bons, jordan almonds, jujubes and gummi bears. Her choice of subject reflects her interest in mass production and consumer culture around the world.[1]

Through her friend and fellow artist Jack Beal, Kurt met Ivan C. Karp, then Assistant Director of the Leo Castelli Gallery. Karp showed her work to gallerist Jill Kornblee, who began showing Kurt's paintings at the Kornblee Gallery in New York City in 1968.[2] A year later her work was featured in London's Hayward Gallery Pop Art exhibition, curated by John Russell, then art critic of The Sunday Times, and artist and art critic Suzi Gablik.[3] Kurt was one of the youngest artists included in the exhibition and was also one of the only women. Her work was later featured in the 1973 Whitney Biennial and in numerous other group and solo exhibitions throughout the 1980s and 1990s.[4]

Aside from a brief tenure in Germany in 1968-69, Kurt has remained in the Midwest. She moved to Duluth, Minnesota when her husband, Medieval scholar Klaus Jankofsky, began teaching at the University of Minnesota, Duluth in 1969.[5] She continues to live and work in Duluth today.

Exhibitions

Collections

Bibliography

  1. "Kay Kurt: Resume," http://www.kaykurt.com/kaykurtresume.htm.
  2. Kay Kurt, "Artist Statement." http://www.kaykurt.com/kaykurtartiststatement.htm.
  3. "Kay Kurt in the Press," http://www.kaykurt.com/kaykurtpress.htm.
  4. John Russell, ""Kay Kurt and Others" [Review]", New York Times, December 9, 1983.
  5. John Russell, "2 Unsung Painters", New York Times, December 21, 1979.
  6. Hilton Kramer, "Art: 2 Interesting Talents Make Debut", New York Times', June 13, 1970, pg. 26.'
  7. Hilton Kramer, "Nowadays It's Terribly Hard to Be Scandalous," New York Times, July 27, 1969, pg. D19.
  8. "50 Years/50 Artworks. 49. Kay Kurt, Jordan Almonds (1975-79)." http://www.d.umn.edu/tma/collections/language/cat49.html
  9. Sid Sachs and Kalliopi Minioudaki, Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958-1968. Philadelphia, PA: University of the Arts, Philadelphia, 2010.

References

  1. ↑ Kurt, "Artist's Statement"
  2. ↑ Sachs and Minioudaki (2010)
  3. ↑ Kramer (1969)
  4. ↑ Sachs and Minioudaki (2010)
  5. ↑ "50 Years/50 Artworks"

External links