Over the past two decades, Karen Kilimnik has become known for her playful treatment of nostalgia, combining a love for stories, costumes and magic to create highly theatrical yet intimate exhibitions. Using a wide range of media, including installation, drawing and photography, and not least her distinctive paintings, she orchestrates a range of references, from scraps of nature to the trappings of European aristocracy.
Karen Kilimnik (born 1955, Philadelphia, USA) studied at the Temple University in her hometown where she lives and works today. Major solo exhibitions include Le Consortium, Dijon, 2013, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, 2012, the Belvedere, Vienna, 2010, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 2006, the Serpentine Gallery, London, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami and Le Consortium, Dijon, all 2007, the Fondazione Belvilacqua La Masa, Venice, 2005, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2002. Major group exhibitions include the Grand Palais, Paris, 2013, Halle für Kunst, Lüneberg, 2013, Tate Modern, London, 2012, Kunsthalle Zurich, 2012, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2008, the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the MoMA PS1, New York, both 2006, the MoMA, New York, 2005, 2001, 1999, the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, 1997, 1992, and the Secession, Vienna, 1994. In 2011 Kilimnik created a stage setting for the ballet Psyche at the Opéra National de Paris.
Courtesy Sprüth Magers

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