Kate Barrengos

Based in Sausalito, California, Kate Barrengos has been obsessively painting aerial landscapes for almost a decade. Starting with satellite images, she explores vast fields of the Midwest and California, and intricate grids of cities. Using acrylic paint on linen, layers are built up, sanded down, and redone, leaving a trace of where things began. Bright colors play with earth tones. And, shapes vary between loose and defined. The process is physical and contemplative. Her aerial landscapes ultimately tell a story of where and how we live in this world.
The artist exhibits regularly in the Bay Area since establishing her studio practice in 2009. Her work has shown at the de Young Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery, and Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, and is part of several private and corporate collections. When not in the studio, she is hiking the hills of Marin County and San Francisco, recreating the Tuileries in her backyard, and traveling to places to see art.

Artist Statement:

Painting connects me to the world. By looking with care and consideration we can see more than what is there. I enjoy different genres, including aerial landscape, still life, and portraiture. I approach landscapes from high above using satellite images. This perspective transforms the world into a gorgeous abstraction. Rows of crops and urban neighborhoods become a colorful grid. Still life painting gives me a chance to meditate on the familiar, my leafy California neighborhood or the clutter on my kitchen counter. And, my portrait paintings are anthropomorphic homages to women in history—honoring their achievements, and mourning their absence in our collective memory. Through my artwork, I seek to create a special space, and I invite the viewer to inhabit it.