Kimberly Hahn

Statement

My work is concept-based and characterized by abstract imagery, with results that convey a minimal aesthetic. Though composed of diverse materials that best match an explored idea, my work often has a strong photographic foundation and employs a selective color palette appropriate to each piece.

The brain fools us into thinking we see complete environments, when in fact visual input is fractured, edited constantly, remembered inconsistently, and inherently abstract. I experienced the complexity of this perceptual anomaly first-hand when an irrational childhood fear of blindness, brought on by rapidly deteriorating eyesight, caused a 3-year period in which I saw the world softly. Light, color, and their resultant shapes became elements that helped me navigate an uncomfortable world. This experience drew me to abstraction and resulted in works that craft a way of understanding intricate thought processes, data, definitions, rules, etc. from deceptively simple-looking installations, photographs, and sculptures. 

Sometimes the work toys with a given and exposes it as an arbitrary rule that can easily be broken, whilst also showing preconceived notions about reality can be false (White Balance Backdrop and Color Checker Cards). Other works put forth poetic interpretations of scientific and technical phenomena (Chromatic Variation) or political or social thought and data (Bloodlines). Reversal explores spatial and conventional expectations, process, product, and a photograph’s relationship to time, collapsing many of these subjects into themselves.

I encourage a murky lack of distinction between mediums in my work resulting for example in photographic works that masquerade as illustrations or paintings. The works are subtly alluring drawing one in with an inherent beauty, while asking one to consider imagery that is foreign to the standard human visual vocabulary, and suggesting there is an analytical thought process that can be followed, which may not yield definitive answers, but rather an ambiguity to be explored.

Bio

Kimberly Hahn was raised in California and Texas, and now resides in Santa Barbara, California. She studied at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design, London, England and the University of Texas, Austin, Texas where she received a B.F.A.

Hahn has been in numerous exhibitions including: Eating Apples in Paradise, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA; Communion of Saints: Santa Barbara & San Antonio, David Shelton Gallery, San Antonio, TX; The Can(n)on, Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA; California Visual Artists, Second City Art Council Gallery, Long Beach, CA; and Revisiting Beauty, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA.  She is currently exhibiting in a group exhibition at the CAF Satellite @ Hotel Indigo Santa Barbara and a solo exhibition at Left Coast Books Gallery Space.

Kimberly Hahn Vitae

Education

University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX; 1998 BFA.; Emphasis in Painting and Photography, High Honors
Central St. Martin's School of Art & Design, London, England, UK; Emphasis in Photography and Computer Art 

Current exhibitions

March 23 - May 25, 2013 

Reversal, Left Coast Gallery, Goleta, CA

Selected solo and group exhibitions

2013
Limuw: An Ode to the Sea featuring Miya Ando, Jules de Balincourt, Graham Caldwell, Zoe Crosher, Bill Dewey, Kim Fisher, Kimberly Hahn, Emilie Halpern, Mary Heebner, Virgina McCracken, and Raymond Saá, curated by Miki Garcia CAF Satellite @ Hotel Indigo Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA

2012
The Can(n)on, Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA

2011
Super Santa Barbara 2: On Net Neutrality, curated by Warren Schultheis, 653 Paseo Nuevo, Santa Barbara, CA
Eating Apples in Paradise featuring Macduff Everton, Elizabeth Folk, Nancy Gifford, Penelope Gottlieb, Saul Gray-Hildenbrand, Kimberly Hahn, Cyndee Howard, Hank Pitcher, Warren Schultheis, Steven Soria, Jonny Troyna, and James Van Arsdale, curated by Miki Garcia, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
Chain Letter Invitational, curated by Christian Cummings & Doug Harvey, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
DOUBLE TROUBLE, with James Van Arsdale, curated by Nancy Gifford, The Arts Fund Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
5x5, An Invitational and Exhibition, Westmont Museum of Art, Westmont College, Montecito, CA

2010
Revisiting Beauty, juror Peter Frank, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA
La Vie en Rose: 13th Annual Valentine's Exhibition and Benefit Auction, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
California Visual Artists, juror Ed Schad, 2nd City Council Art Gallery and Performance Space, Long Beach, CA

2009
Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative 1st Thursday, Casa De la Guerra's Courtyard, Santa Barbara, CA
SUPER SANTA BARBARA, 121 Santa Barbara Street, Santa Barbara, CA
A Communion of Saints: Santa Barbara and San Antonio Artists, David Shelton Gallery, San Antonio, TX
Plastic Planet, Art From Scrap, Santa Barbara, CA

2008
Edge: Santa Barbara County Contemporary Artists, Channing Peake Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA

2005
Valentine’s Exhibition, Invitational Benefit, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA

2004
Blur, Bekins, Santa Barbara, CA
Red, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA

2003
Memorable Suites Kimberly Hahn, Tom Stanley,& Jocelyn Webb Perch Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Forum Show, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA

2002
Rey Group Show, Elsie's, Santa Barbara, CA
Small Images, Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA (juried)
Shift, Perch Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Cinergy 6, Absinthe, Samta Barbara, CA

2002
Works on Paper: Recent Drawings, Prints, and Photographs, LSU Union Art Gallery, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (juried)
Forumulations, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
Cynergy 5, Coach House, Santa Barbara, CA

2001
Small Images, Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA (juried)
The Living Room Show, Santa Barbara, CA
Blue Looking Glass 123, Roma, Santa Barbara, CA
Focus on the Forum, Santa Barbara Contemporary Art's Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
Red Door, Roma, Santa Barbara, CA
Juxtaposition, Roma, Santa Barbara, CA

2000
Small Works, Gallery 2, Ventura Community College, Ventura, CA (juried)
Angel in a Shoebox, Reynald's Gallery, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA
Small Works #15 Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA (juried)
Focused on the Forum, Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA

1999
Mechanically Reproduced, Dean's Office, College of Fine Arts, University of Texas, Austin, TX (solo exhibition)
Annual Student Art Show, Jack S. Blanton Museum, University of Texas, Austin, TX (juried)

1998
Processing Images, Flood Gallery, Austin, TX (solo exhibition)
Decade Show, Texas Union Art Gallery, Austin, TX (juried)
Student Art Exhibit, Central St. Martin's School of Art & Design, London, England, UK
Annual Student Art Show, Jack S. Blanton Museum, University of Texas, Austin, TX (juried)

1997
Phantom of the Opera Art Exhibit, Bass Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center, Austin, TX(juried)
For Once - A Journey, Flood Gallery, Austin, TX (solo exhibition)
Student Photography Exhibit, Texas Union Art Gallery, Austin, TX

Awards
1998 2nd place Brushwork, Decade Show
1996 1st Place Black & White Photography, Student Photography Exhibit

Books
The View From Here, International Library of Photography
Mechanically Reproduced, Artist's Book
The Grid Beneath, Artist's Book

Events

2012
From Dusk 'til Drawn: 24-Hour Drawing Rally, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA

2011
From Dusk 'til Drawn: 24-Hour Drawing Rally, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA

2010
From Dusk 'til Drawn: 24-Hour Drawing Rally, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA

Press/Publications

2012
Charles Donelan, Can(n)on Art Studios: Group Show at SBCC Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara Independent, March 5
Josef Woodard, Small Town Space, Big Ideas, Santa Barbara News-Press, March 2

2011
Charles Donelan, Double Trouble at the Arts Fund, Santa Barbara Independent, November 29
Josef Woodard, Art Under Shared Roofs, Santa Barbara News-Press, November 25
Jessica Oliveira, Double Trouble, Santa Barbara Seasons blog, November 10
Geoff Tuck, Initial Public Offering: email conversation with Miki Garcia, Notes on Looking, May 17
Charles Donelan, A Real Eden, Santa Barbara Independent, March 31, pg.44
Geoff Tuck, Santa Bruta? It’s just up the coast dear…. (images only), Notes on Looking, March 24
Josef Woodard, Artburgers In Paradise, Scene Magazine, Santa Barbara News-Press, March 11

2010
Kimberly Hahn, The Creative Community with David Starkey - video
Revisiting Beauty by OCCA, catalogue

2001
D.J. Palladino, Little Wonders, Santa Barbara Independent Vol 15. No.776, Oct 4 - 11


Lectures, Seminars, Workshops

2013 Sessions: The Crisis of Photography, Seminar, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA

Altered Sights, Art From Scrap, Santa Barbara, CA

Writings

2013
As if of the Past and for the Present Future, Review of the exhibition A Handful of Dust at Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, ArtSlant Community Reviews.
She's a Confection, Review of the exhibition The Foreign Correspondent: Your Man in Los Angeles at Public Fiction, Think.
From Simplicity to Complexity, Review of Things That Turn Your Brains To Mush, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, ArtSlant Community Reviews.