Karen Arm
Photo by Chris Gallo
Known for her meditative paintings, Karen Arm (b. 1962) engages in a dialogue between micro and macro; mark and object; and structure and line. Arm meticulously layers and glazes her surfaces, creating vast accumulations of spontaneous marks. Referring to nature as a catalyst for the unknowable, Arm balances the earthly and astral in her paintings to reveal portals to the sublime. Arm lives and works in Brooklyn and Shelter Island, NY. She received her BFA from The Cooper Union in 1985 and her MFA from Columbia University in 1989. She has had six solo exhibitions with P·P·O·W since 1999. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at 56 Henry, New York, NY; Fortnight Institute, New York, NY; The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY; and the Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, OH; among others. In 2002, Arm received a New York Foundation for the Arts Award for Painting. From 2012 to 2016, Arm’s works were exhibited in the United States Embassy in Burma as part of the Art in Embassies Program.
Karen Arm
b. 1962
Education
1989
MFA, Columbia University, New York, NY
1985
BFA, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, NY
1983
Tyler School of Art, Rome, Italy
1978
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Solo Exhibitions
2016
Light + Heavy, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2011
New Works on Paper, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2008
New Works 2008, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2004
New Paintings 2004, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2001
New Paintings 2001, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
1999
Karen Arm 1999, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
1998
Pierogi 2000, Brooklyn, NY
Select Group Exhibitions
2022
Once On This Island, curated by Margaret Garrett, Shelter Island Historical Society, Shelter Island, NY
Entre Centre et Absence, Loong Mah, New York, NY
a million little pieces, VSOP Art & Design Projects, Greenport, NY
2021
Here, There and Everywhere: Women’s Liberation And the Imagination Post Covid Lockdown, curated by Elizabeth Weiss, Foley Gallery, New York, NY
2020
Days Soon to Fade, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2019
Divine Intervention, Christ Episcopal Church, Sag Harbor, NY
Notebook, curated by Joanne Greenbaum, 56 Henry, New York, NY
2017
Only Small Paintings, Fortnight Institute, New York, NY
2016
Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
2014
Paper Reveries, Shirley Fiterman Art Center, Borough of Manhattan Community College, The City University of New York, New York, NY
PIEROGI XX: Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition, Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2012
Art in Embassies Program, Embassy of the United States Rangoon, Burma
2005
NY Loves LV, Main Street, Las Vegas, NV
A Very Liquid Heaven, The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
2004
200 Drawings: Selections from Pierogi, curated by Annie Heron and Barry Blinderman,
University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
New York New York, New Mexico, Annie Herron’s Selection from the Pierogi
Flat Files, Carlsbad Museum and Art Center, Carlsbad, NM
2003
On and Off the Wall: New York Foundation for the Arts' Painting Fellows, Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg, New York, NY
Brooklyn on 57th Street, Nohra Haime Gallery, New York, NY
2001
Collector’s Choice, Exit Art, New York, NY
Some (Are) Painting, curated by David Gibson, John Gibson Gallery, NY
Nature Re-visited, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY
Pixerina Witcherina, University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL; Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, AL
2000
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC
The Pierogi Flatfiles, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA; Post Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Block Artspace, Kansas City, MO
Fluid flow, Graham Modern, New York, NY
@ the artist’s studio, P·P·O·W Gallery, New York, NY
Eye Candy: Contemporary West and East Coast Women Painters, curated by Susan Joyce, Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum, California State University, San Bernardino, CA; Grand Central Art Center, California State University, Santa Ana, CA
Live from New York, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1999
Brooklyn, New Work, curated by David Brown and Joseph Amrhein, The Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, OH
Phenotypology, curated by Maureen McQuillan, Hallwalls, Buffalo, NY
Rage for Art (Pierogi Reborn), Pierogi 2000, Brooklyn, NY
1998
Pierogi Goes to College, Bard College, Rheinbeck, NY
Pierogi 2000, New York, The Flatfiles, Kunstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria
The Flatfiles, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
Southern Exposure, Ambrosino Gallery, Miami, FL
Wallpaper, curated by Lisa Jacobs, Nicholas Davies Gallery, New York, NY
Drawings, James Graham and Sons, New York, NY
1997
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC
Drawing Room, ARENA, Brooklyn, NY
Recurrence, Gallery Korea, New York, NY
New York Drawers: The Pierogi 2000 Flatfiles, Gasworks, London; Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK
Current Undercurrent: Working in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
1996
Dots & Lines, 473 Broadway Gallery, New York, NY
Material Madness, the Workspace Gallery, New York, NY
Influenced by Nature, the Studio at Curly Willow, East Hampton, NY
The Exchange Show, ARENA, New York, NY
The Lyrical, the Expressionist and the Poetic, curated by Michael Walls, Denise Bibro Fine Arts, New York, NY
1995
Soul in C Minor, 450 Broadway Gallery, New York, NY
The Color of No Color, Art Initiatives, New York, NY
Natural, ARENA, Brooklyn, NY
Nature Revisited, Marymount Manhattan Gallery, New York, NY
Not For Sale, Exhibit and Benefit Auction for Laura Cottingham’s “Women’s Art of the Seventies,” Flamingo East, New York, NY
Reconstituted Paint, curated by Seth Ferris, K&E Gallery, New York, NY
1994
Chamber 2, Chamber, New York, NY
1993
The Light from Behind, The New York Law School, Art Initiatives, New York, NY
re/SOURCE, curated by Bill Barrell and Lily Prince, First Street Gallery, Jersey City, NJ
File Pix, Tribeca 148 Gallery, New York, NY
1991
The Salon of the Mating Spiders, Herron Test Site, Brooklyn, NY
1 .4 Show, Tribeca 148 Gallery, New York, NY
1990
Low Memorial Library, Columbia University, New York, NY
1983
Tenderize Graphich (Graphic Trends), Temple Gallery, Rome, Italy
Select Public Collections
The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR
Collection of Rubin, Baum, Levin, Constant, and Friedman, New York, NY
Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC
Grants and Awards
2002
New York Foundation for the Arts, Award for Painting
Select Bibliography
2016
Brody, David. “Haptic Hallucinations: The ‘Suns’ and ‘Wavy Rays’ of Karen Arm,” artcritical, June 18, 2016.
Garriques, Stephen. “The Abstract Galactic Paintings of Karen Arm,” Galerie Project, May 26, 2016.
Recinos, Eve. “Explosive Field Paintings Capture the Sun’s Brilliance,” The Creators Project: Vice Magazine, June 6, 2016.
2011
Streitfeld, Lisa Paul. “(R)evolution in Consciousness: The Book of Symbols Launch at the Rubin Museum,” Huffington Post.
2008
“Paintings,” The New York Sun. Reproduction of Untitled Sun #1. March 6, 2008.
2005
A Very Liquid Heaven. Ed. Ian Berry. Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum, Saratoga Springs, 2005. pg.121-129. Image and artist dialogue.
2004
Gomez, Edward M. “Another World: Evaluating and appreciating abstract art,” Art and Antiques, September 2004, p. 46-53.
2002
Conger, Bill (curator). Pixerina Witcherina. University Galleries, Illinois State University, IL, 2002.
The Paris Review: Issue 162, 2002. Reproduction of Untitled 1998.
Sheets, Hillarie M. “Karen Arm: P.P.O.W,” (review of New Paintings). ARTnews, March 2002.
2001
Johnson, Ken, “Some (are) Painting,” The New York Times, June 29, 2001.
2000
Bonetti, David. “Driven to dynamic abstraction,” San Francisco Examiner, Jan 28, 2000. p C-15.
Catalogue, Art on Paper 2000, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina Greensboro, 2000.
Eye Candy: Contemporary West and East Coast Women Painters, Catalogue. Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum, California State University, 2000. Essays by Susan Joyce and Roberta Carasso, Ph.D.
2000. Essays by Susan Joyce and Roberta Carasso, Ph.D.
“Fluid Flow,” Art Guide, New York Times, August 11, 2000.
“Art on Paper 2000,” News & Record, December 2000. p.10.
“Touring in New Directions,” Winston Salem Journal, Dec. 31, 2000.
1999
Bell, J. Bowyer. Review, Review, September 15, 1999.
Findsen, Owen. “’Brooklyn Exhibit Quirky,” The Cincinnati Enquirer, Sept 12, 1999, p. G6.
Huntington, Richard. “Exploring the sights created in science.”
Johnson, Ken. Review, The New York Times, September 17, 1999.
O’Hara, Cate. “Brooklyn Makeover: Young artists showcased in new CAC show,” City Beat, September 9-15, 1999. p. 53.
Stein, Jerry. “New Exhibit is Turned Inside Out,” The Cincinnati Post, Sept 17, 1999. p. 4C.
1998
Larsen, E. Tage. “A Questionable Solidarity,” Zingmagazine, Winter 1998.
“Take the L Train: Williamsburg Walkabout,” NY Arts magazine, February/March 1998, (reproduction).
Tirado, Michelle. “Karen Arm: Paintings and Drawings,” Art Papers, May/June 1998, vol. 22, issue 3, p. 50. (reproduction)
1997
Arning, Bill. “Brooklyn in the House,” The Village Voice, August 1997.
1996
Gargiulo, Gerald J. “Art Byte,” The Southampton Independent, August 14, 1996.
Howe, Jeff. Material Madness, exhibition catalog from the Work Space.
Karen Arm
Untitled (Corona #3), 2021
acrylic on canvas
27 x 22 ins.
68.6 x 55.9 cm
Karen Arm
Untitled (Yellow-Orange Sun on Blue), 2020
acrylic on canvas
46 x 40 ins.
116.8 x 101.6 cm
Karen Arm
Untitled (Blue Sun on Alizarin), 2018
acrylic on canvas
48 x 40 ins.
121.9 x 101.6 cm
Karen Arm
Untitled (Orange-Yellow Rays) on Blue, 2017
acrylic on wood panel
12 x 9 ins.
30.5 x 22.9 cm
Karen Arm
Untitled (Yellow Wavy Ray), 2016
watercolor and acrylic on paper
11 x 9 ins.
27.9 x 22.9 cm
Karen Arm
Untitled (Red Beam on Blue), 2016
watercolor on paper
11 x 9 ins.
27.9 x 22.9 cm
