Biographical Information:
Katy Bishop is a contemporary abstract painter based in Los Angeles who creates “expressive images,” gestural abstracts that fuse elements of perception, randomness, and control. Her works are wild abstracts with bold, vibrant colors, and emotional subtle abstracts that connect with a sense of harmony.
Her gestural abstract artworks are characterized by bold, expressive, and vibrant use of color. In addition, Katy is known for her use of alcohol ink in reverse painting on plexiglass and glass.
Bishop presented two solo exhibitions with TAG Gallery, Los Angeles, in 2023. Her artworks have been in group exhibitions in galleries in Los Angeles, Costa Mesa, Chicago, Rome, Venice, Tokyo and many websites online.
Her work Terra Firma VII was presented with the Golden Award by the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in 2023. In 2023 her abstract, Propel, won First Place – Abstract at the Betsy Lueke Gallery in “Rock.Paper.Scissors.Art” juried by Elizabeth Tucker, President of Women Painters West.
Her ink on synthetic paper Wonder was awarded First Place – Abstract in the February 2024 BoldBrush Competition. Down in the Valley, ink on plexiglass, received First Place – Abstract by the Burbank Art Association 2024 Annual Spring Show entitled “Flight.”
Katy Bishop is a member of The Los Angeles Art Association, Pasadena Society of Artist the California Art League, the International Association of Art – USAs, and the National and So Cal Women’s Caucus for Art. Her work is represented by TAG Gallery, Los Angeles and MEGA Gallery, Rome, and can be found in private collections across the country.
Artist Statement:I am a painter who creates “expressive images,” gestural abstracts that fuse elements of perception, randomness, and control. My works are wild abstracts with bold, vibrant colors, and emotional subtle abstracts that connect with a sense of harmony.
In my journey as a self-taught artist, I paint what I feel, not what I see, capturing the spirit of conversation to communicate emotions, feelings and ideas that cannot be expressed in words. My art explores life in motion -- the beauty I see around me, a memory, or a dream. I combine color, texture and design to tell the story.
An artist cannot control the flow of alcohol inks any more than controlling the changes that occur in life. In my process as an artist, I embrace the unpredictability of alcohol inks on synthetic paper, canvas, and plexiglass.
I guide the pigments through a delicate balance between control and surrender. One drop of blue ink will be almost black, but after alcohol is added, fourteen or more different shades of blue will appear depending on the imprecise amount of liquid added. The inks can become transparent or can be deeply pigmented. I use a variety of implements to push, pull, blow, brush, dilute, squiggle, smudge, tilt, and blot the ink into a mirage of forms.
Painting in reverse on glass or plexiglass intrigues me because I must reverse my thinking about background vs. foreground. When I flip the plexiglass around, I am thrilled to see the vision I have accomplished.
I began my artistic journey as a young teen in Chicago where I was profoundly impressed by “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” by Seurat. I attended scholarship classes at Chicago’s Art Institute where I began studying various great artists like Seurat, Richter and Helen Frankenthaler who inspired me to explore my own artistic vision with insight, perseverance, and determination. These artists were a starting point to return to my art after raising a family and a career as a successful film producer.
After college graduation, being a starving artist was not possible. I moved to Los Angeles and became an award-winning TV commercial producer. My career in film and advertising industries as a producer of story-telling images was productive and fulfilling. I was collaborating with great creative teams, but I found that the projects were always about someone else’s vision, not my own.
I wanted to find my own art form. Charcoal drawing and acrylic painting weren’t rewarding. I explored ceramics, photography, and jewelry design, but I never felt that "creative connection." Nothing expressed what I wanted and needed to say. I continued to look for my personal artistic medium.
One day in 2020, my neighbor, a professional artist, introduced me to Alcohol Ink – and I found my voice. I attended classes with fine artists like Nicholas Wilton, continued my studies of works by Joon Lee, Melissa Meyers, Muriel Napoli and Vivian Springford, and continued experimentation with alcohol inks.
My current portfolio of works contains more than twenty pieces that explore my feelings, emotions, and reactions to everyday life.
