Karen Koltrane life

"Karen’s paintings, photographs and video work are dark and menacing. She works slowly building up purposeful sets of work with some projects spanning years, some are never seen by anyone but her. Her work is haunting and recurring, laced with child-like trick or treat Halloween nights and paganism that celebrate, question and answer at the same time. Karen might as well be the love child of Hieronymus Bosh and Nico. Beneath the dark murkiness of paint and trapped light there are glimmers of optimism."

Karen Koltrane was born an only child in Cornwall in the village of Zennor in 1973. She lived in cottage about half a mile from the sea with her mother. Her father left when she was five, leaving behind a 1970 Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic 35mm camera; she called this camera her ‘sad eye box’ and took it everywhere, recording her vision and surroundings. As a teenagers Karen became isolated and withdrawn. Her mother mistook her elusiveness for shyness and encouraged her to take dance lessons and drove her to ballet every week. However Karen reflects on this time with fond memories, a time, she recalls, “of internal contentment, literature mixed with healthy sleep, walks and making photographs”.

Karen’s Saturday’s were spent sneaking into film matinees at the Savoy Cinema in Penzance. American films from the forties and fifties were her favourite. She soon became an avid watcher of the Hammer Horror films, horror to leak into her work.In 1990 Karen left Cornwall for New York in search of the America she had seen in black and white films. She worked as a waitress at The Odeon on West Broadway while studying dance at Joffrey Ballet School where she graduated with a diploma. This led her to dance in a few off Broadway shows. It was while working in Bar89 in the hip art area of Soho that she started to hang out with artists and small gallery owners. She reluctantly showed her work and was encouraged to exhibit. Growing weary of dancing she took a fine art course at Parsons School of Design and had a few solo exhibitions around the area where she lived. In

1998 the song Karen Koltrane appeared on the Sonic Youth album A Thousand Leaves and then in 2002 the song Karen Revisited appeared on the album Murray Street, both these songs provide a rare insight to her furtive world. In 2003 Karen was diagnosed with glossophobia and has since ceased talking in public. In 2005 Karen moved back to Cornwall and is working in a small studio overlooking the beach of Gwithian Sands.




	KK "Karen’s paintings, photographs and video work are dark and menacing. She works slowly building up purposeful sets of work with some projects spanning years, some are never seen by anyone but her. Her work is haunting and recurring, laced with child-like trick or treat Halloween nights and paganism that celebrate, question and answer at the same time. Karen might as well be the love child of Hieronymus Bosh and Nico. Beneath the dark murkiness of paint and trapped light there are glimmers of optimism." Karen Koltrane was born an only child in Cornwall in the village of Zennor in 1973. She lived in cottage about half a mile from the sea with her mother. Her father left when she was five, leaving behind a 1970 Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic 35mm camera; she called this camera her ‘sad eye box’ and took it everywhere, recording her vision and surroundings. As a teenagers Karen became isolated and withdrawn. Her mother mistook her elusiveness for shyness and encouraged her to take dance lessons and drove her to ballet every week. However Karen reflects on this time with fond memories, a time, she recalls, “of internal contentment, literature mixed with healthy sleep, walks and making photographs”. Karen’s Saturday’s were spent sneaking into film matinees at the Savoy Cinema in Penzance. American films from the forties and fifties were her favourite. She soon became an avid watcher of the Hammer Horror films, horror to leak into her work.In 1990 Karen left Cornwall for New York in search of the America she had seen in black and white films. She worked as a waitress at The Odeon on West Broadway while studying dance at Joffrey Ballet School where she graduated with a diploma. This led her to dance in a few off Broadway shows. It was while working in Bar89 in the hip art area of Soho that she started to hang out with artists and small gallery owners. She reluctantly showed her work and was encouraged to exhibit. Growing weary of dancing she took a fine art course at Parsons School of Design and had a few solo exhibitions around the area where she lived. In 1998 the song Karen Koltrane appeared on the Sonic Youth album A Thousand Leaves and then in 2002 the song Karen Revisited appeared on the album Murray Street, both these songs provide a rare insight to her furtive world. In 2003 Karen was diagnosed with glossophobia and has since ceased talking in public. In 2005 Karen moved back to Cornwall and is working in a small studio overlooking the beach of Gwithian Sands.
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Kontakt: karen(at)karenkoltrane.com