FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

Kate Glasheen: Dead Kings 
January 25 – March 16, 2019 
Opening Reception: January 25, 2019 • 5:30 – 10:00pm 

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Paradigm Gallery is pleased to present Dead Kings, an exhibition of new works by the Philadelphia-based artist Kate Glasheen. The exhibition, marking Glasheen's first solo presentation with the gallery, will open on January 25, and remain on view through March 16, 2019. There will be an opening reception at the gallery on January 25, from 5:30 to 10pm.

Documenting history through line, Glasheen's latest expertly-wrought ink on paper drawings express historical realities and their all-too-relevant association to our present-day political climate.

Delicately rendered in exquisite detail, Glasheen's new series represents a departure from the artist's previous more conceptually abstracted works. Employing an historically literate approach, Glasheen critically depicts the opulence and excesses of the past. For Glasheen, there is a narrative through line connecting the rulers of the past with the contemporary leaders of today.

Drawing with virtuoso skill, her finely hatched, original portrayals of the kings and monarchs of past civilizations serve as stark reminders of the potential dangers of a dictatorial state. Historical tyrants with absolute power often exercised it in a cruel or oppressive way. Through the centuries, autocratic powers have proven to be unsustainable over time. Centralized, dictatorial systems of government requiring complete subservience to the state eventually fall.

From Glasheen's vantage, the cycle of repression continues today, as one despot is deposed by another. Her historical figures are represented as human skeletons, elaborately dressed, ostentatious characters decorated in showy, complex patterns. For all of their extravagance, Glasheen's kings have been reduced to mere bone and cartilage, the remaining parts of something after its life or usefulness is gone. Once-revered, all-powerful sovereigns--their features humorously exaggerated--are effectively satirized, lampooned to caricatures.

Proffering a vision of a world run by venality--one we can identify with today--Glasheen's skillfully composed, intricate line drawings remind viewers of the connective tissue between historical civilizations and our modern political times, the rulers of the past and the 'kings' of today.

About Kate Glasheen
Kate Glasheen graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY with a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts. Kate has since been a creator, artist, and contributor for several critically acclaimed books, participated in exhibitions across the country, and worked on several of the biggest properties in entertainment. Her artistic interests find communion in fine and sequential art under the notion that there's something hilarious about something that's not funny at all.

Kate has exhibited her work in spaces such as LA’s Gallery 1988, Philadelphia’s Paradigm Gallery, and Brooklyn’s Gristle Gallery. Published works include Top Shelf’s upcoming A Radical Shift of Gravity (with collaborator Nick Tapalansky), contributions to the Adventure Time series (BOOM! Studios), Hybrid Bastards! (Archaia Entertainment), The Sakai Project (Dark Horse Comics), several entries in to the Graphic Canon series (Seven Stories Press), Resist! (Françoise Mouly, Nadja Speigleman, and Desert Island), as well as her own passion project, the Kickstarter funded Bandage: A Diary of Sorts. An ongoing web comic entitled Varsity Noir launches spring 2019 through Line Webtoon.

Commercial clients include Paramount Pictures, Cartoon Network, AMC, Topps, Inc., and many others with work spanning such properties as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and The Walking Dead.

About Paradigm Gallery
Paradigm Gallery + Studio® exhibits contemporary artwork from around the world with a focus on Philadelphia-based artists. Established February 2010, the gallery began as a project between co-founders and curators, Jason Chen and Sara McCorriston, as a space in which to create artwork, to exhibit the work of their peers, and to invite the members of the community to create and collect in a welcoming gallery setting. To this day the gallery still aims to welcome all collectors, from first time to lifelong, and continues to support accessible work that welcomes a wide audience. 

ARTWORK NOW LIVE 
CLICK HERE TO VIEW/PURCHASE FROM THE COLLECTION

Press:

https://bombmagazine.org/articles/one-piece-dead-king-16-10th-century-irish-lord/

https://southphillyreview.com/2019/01/28/south-philly-artist-presents-dead-kings/

https://www.ava-phl.com/2019/02/07/kate-glasheens-dead-kings-on-view-now-at-paradigm-gallery-studio/