Kallie Genzale – Artist’s Statement

Artist’s statement and images by Kallie Genzale

The Creator. 18×24″, acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of Kallie Genzale.

Artist’s Statement

Kallie Genzale: I’m a queer artist and mother raising a queer household that so far has collected about the whole alphabet of acronyms in our home. I was raised in a very conservative upper upper middle class family, however, that did not trickle down without accepting demands from a controlling narcissist so by 18, I was living in poverty on my own, though it would take a while to figure the extent of that out.

My work reflects real life experiences/baggage and examines the dichotomy of what people want to portray verses the reality of what most of is our living. What we know vs who we are… The truth in the fiction and the fiction is people’s perceived reality. I want to take the parts of ourselves, and our society that people look away from and hopefully make them engage through art.

Sharing is caring. 12×16″, acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of Kallie Genzale.

Persephone. 12×16″, acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of Kallie Genzale.

Loves. 16×20, acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of Kallie Genzale.

About Kallie Genzale

Kallie Genzale: It started with my grandmother, a working artist who sold paintings and taught art classes, ran an art and frame shop with my grandfather for a time; she passed on these art books to my mother, also a good painter although never as a profession, and then to me. I spent my childhood obsessed, studying and copying those books… later a high school art teacher helped me learn to see and grow, then on to a high school summer school program at CalArts, and afterwards college at Academy of art, San Francisco, then a visual communications degree at Collins College… but it always went back to those first books.