Kara Maria

Kara Maria is a visual artist working in painting and
mixed media. Her work reflects on political topics—feminism, war, and the environment.
She borrows from the broad vocabulary of
contemporary painting, blending geometric shapes, vivid hues, and abstract
marks with representational elements.

Maria received her BA and MFA from the University of
California, Berkeley. She has exhibited work in solo and group shows throughout
the United States at venues including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art;
the Cantor Center at Stanford University; the Contemporary Arts Museum in
Houston, Texas; the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art; and the Katonah
Museum of Art in New York; among many others. Her work has garnered critical
attention in the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Art in
America. Maria has been awarded artist residencies at the Montalvo Arts Center,
Recology Artist in Residence Program, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and at
the de Young’s Artist Studio. She has been a recipient of many awards and
honors, including a grant from Artadia, an Eisner Prize in Art from UC
Berkeley, and the Masterminds Grant from SF Weekly. Her work is included in the
permanent collections of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, the San Jose
Museum of Art, the de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University, the di Rosa in
Napa, Mills College Art Museum in Oakland, and the Nevada Museum of Art in
Reno, among others. Maria lives and works in San Francisco; and is represented
by Catharine Clark Gallery. For more
information, please visit www.karamaria.com.