| Kate Javen’s
paintings in oil are stunning both for the breathtaking beauty of
her brushstroke as well as for their passionate moral intensity.
In a painting style that synthesizes an Old Masters clarity of light
with a basis in American naturalism and realism, Javens connects
with the viewer by an empathy to her subjects – paintings
of animals which are named for, and in fact stand as metaphorical
portraits of, figures in American history; persons who represent,
to Javens, an altogether admirable altruism and social activism
that deserve to be commemorated.
Kate Javens, a Missouri-born artist who has lived in Japan, Mexico,
Philadelphia and New York, is a recipient both of a Pennsylvania
Council on the Arts Painting Fellowship and a Pew Fellowship in
the Arts Disciplinary Winner in Painting, and is a three-time McDowell
Fellow. Her works hang in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art, the Palmer Museum of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy
of the Fine Arts Museum. |