KOTTIE PALOMA
b. 1974, United StatesKottie Paloma was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1974. Having lived and worked for several years in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Berlin, Paloma currently lives in Alzenau, Germany. Paloma’s paintings explore the darker side of society in a humorous yet poignant and gritty manner. Heavily inspired by 20th Century cave painting and other archetypal symbols, Paloma combines stigmas and emblems of his personal life to trace the contours of a critical narrative, tackling vast subjects such as politics and other human behaviours. Art historian and critic, Larissa Kikol discerns the image of a riot in Paloma’s works, “in a formal sense as gestural, material chaos between thing and person- an implosion of innumerable signs”.
As well as more abstract works, Paloma’s series also includes more figurative works of women with exaggerated shapes, and bold bodies, which resemble bodies of animal mothers. Paloma’s works, both in content, and through muddied colour reduction techniques, recall the rawness of the earth, and the same primitiveness of the cave paintings that inspire him. Offering an unbridled view on people, cities, carvings and everything in between, the artist calls us home, translating different realms as unique symbols within his abstract works.
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