ARTIST'S STATEMENT

The quiet stillness of Barbara Kolo’s work evokes a time of reflection. Inspired by natural forms and influenced by impressionist, Aboriginal, and Asian art, Kolo has developed a graceful meditative visual language of dots or circles and lines. Her paintings grow organically, with any resulting symmetry and order happening in the moment. In her “Obsession Series,” she repeatedly hand stamps ink or acrylic paint circles with different degrees of pressure, creating imperfections and variation that show the artist’s hand. Each dot or circle is then counted with tally marks that become part of the image. The total tally is the title of the work, and reflects the name of the series. On first sight, viewers are excited by the dizzying array of dots, and then taken in by the quietly meditative quality of Barbara’s work.

ABOUT

Barbara Kolo was born and educated in New York. She attend the High School of Art and Design, then earned her BFA from the School of Visual Arts. During the 1980s, Kolo built a career as an award‐winning art director in creative advertising for films and television. She is the recipient of several Key Art Awards, a Don Belding Award, and a New York Festivals Gold Medal, among many others. However, Kolo’s early interest in drawing and painting never diminished. During the early 90s, she followed the urge to develop her own personal artistic voice and began create her own works. Her drawings were soon being included in local and national group shows. Her focus slowly changed from commercial art to fine art. In 2000, Kolo moved to Paris. There, her work was part of several solo and group exhibitions, including one at the Palais des Art in Marseilles and participation in the "Genie de la Bastille." In 2003, Kolo returned to Santa Monica, where she has re‐established herself in the local art community by participating in solo and group exhibitions. Her paintings can be found in public and private collections internationally.