Kara Maria

Education

1998 MFA, Art Practice, University of California, Berkeley

1993 BA with honors, Art Practice, University of California, Berkeley

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2022 • de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA

2021 • Double Trouble, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, two-person exhibition, Sonoma, CA

• Regarding Extinction, Anglim/Trimble, San Francisco, CA

• The Way We Were, 555 California Street, Plaza Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2020 • Cloud Crystals, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID

• Cloud Crystals, ARTSY online show, Mark Moore Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA

2019 • Kara Maria, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID

• Nevertheless, ARTSY online show, Mark Moore Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA

• Wheels Within Wheels, 425 Market, San Francisco, CA

• Vanishing Fauna, b. sakata garo, Sacramento, CA

2018 • Luminous Disturbances, Townsend Center for the Humanities, University of

California, Berkeley, CA

• Post-Nature, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2016 • Head Over Heels, University Art Gallery, California State University, Chico, CA (catalogue)

2015 • Haywire, Catharine Clark Gallery,  San Francisco, CA

• Arcadian Duet, two-person exhibition, Smith Andersen Editions, Palo Alto, CA 

• Joy Spring, Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA

• Anthropocene Shuffle, b. sakata garo, Sacramento, CA

• A Trash Menagerie, Recology, San Francisco, CA

2013 • Vortex, Fine Arts Gallery, Santa Clara University, Clara, CA

2012 • Amerwarpornica, two-person exhibition, Kirk Hopper Fine Art, Dallas, TX 

2011 • Cloud Nine, Virtuata, Milpitas, CA

2009 • Inviting the Storm, b. sakata garo,  Sacramento, CA

2008 • Deployment in Wonderland, Workspace Gallery, San Francisco, CA

• Dystopia, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2007 • Paradise Lost, Nathan Larramendy Gallery, Ojai, CA

2006 • Zigzag, Arts Visalia, Visalia, CA

2005 • Airborne, Smith Andersen Editions, Palo Alto, CA

2004 • Almost Paradise, Miller/Block Gallery, Boston, MA

2002 • Fools Rush In, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2001 • Fabricator, Ampersand International Arts, San Francisco, CA 

• Emerging Bay Area Artist Exhibition, Babilonia 1808, Berkeley, CA

• Plastic Picnic, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2000 • Plastic Dreams, a.o.v., San Francisco, CA

1999 • Doggie Doo Hop Scotch, two-person exhibition, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France

1998 • Introductions, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

Selected Group Exhibitions

2021 • Hello Stranger, University Library Gallery, California State University, Sacramento, CA

• Reclaimed: The Art of Recology, Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 

Walnut Creek, CA

2020 • Shark’s Ink: The California Crew, BMoCA at Fraiser, Boulder, CO

• The de Young Open, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA

• Gatherings, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA; and Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID

• Bird, Nest, Nature, Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA

• Solstice: Create Art for Earth, online exhibition, Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

• Energy and Motion: Abstraction 2020, ARTSY online exhibition, Mark Moore Fine Art, 

Los Angeles, CA

• Flora, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID

• Mother Altar, Mother Gallery, Beacon, NY

• Hotheads Wall, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA

• The Art of Recology, Embarcadero Conference Center, San Francisco, CA

• School of Art Faculty Exhibition, Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco State University, 

San Francisco, CA

2019 • Abstract, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID

• To Freeze the Shifiting Phantasmagoria: Five California Painters, University Art Gallery,

California State University, Chico, CA

• Encounters: Honoring the Animal in Ourselves, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA

• Strange, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA

• In Bloom (Again), ARTSY online show, Mark Moore Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA

2018 • After Audubon: Art, Observation, and Natural Science, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV

• Art & Activism: Drawing the Line, Children’s Museum of the Arts, New York, NY

• El Grupo Espectáculo, b. sakata garo, Sacramento, CA

• The Art of Recology, The Mills Building, San Francisco, CA

• Assemblage and Collage, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR

• Surprise: New Acquisitions, The Janet Turner Print Museum, California State University, Chico, CA

• Lost Pollinators, Goodwin Fine Art, Denver, CO 

2017 • Doubutsu, b. sakata garo, Sacramento, CA

• Artadia – Bay Area Awardees, Ascent Private Capital Management, San Francisco, CA

• Detritus, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA

• Unique and Multiple: Selections from Smith Andersen Editions, de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara

Univeristy, Santa Clara, CA

• Rise Up: Art as Action, SFArtsED Gallery, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA

• BARED: The Art of Bras and Breasts, The Diamond Shop Gallery, Morgantown, WV

• With Liberty and Justice for Some, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; traveled to: 

San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA

2016 • Imagery Art for Wine Collection, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA

• Not Alone/Exquisite Corpse of the Unknown Veteran, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, 

San Francisco, CA

• Skin Deep: The Art of Tattoo, Katz Snyder Gallery, Jewish Community Center, San Francisco, CA

• Waste Not: The Art of Recology, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA

• Common Ground, David Brower Center, Berkeley, CA

• The Human Spirit, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA

• Bird in the Hand, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA

2015 • Trashed to Treasured, Napa Valley Museum, Yountville, CA

• Djerassi: A Legacy, Ascent Private Capital Management, San Francisco, CA

• Does Size Matter, Janet Turner Print Museum, California State University, Chico, CA

• Make Art, Not Landfill, Thoreau Center for Sustainability, San Francisco, CA

• Californian and American Art: Permanent Collections, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA

• Glamorgeddon: The Spectacle, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA 

2014 • Art Exhibition Volume 6, The Battery, San Francisco, CA

• Creative in Common, de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA

• Incarnate, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA

• Soft Muscle, Root Division, San Francisco, CA (catalogue)

• Building Forward/Looking Back, de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA

• Initial Public Offering, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA

2013 • Around the Table: Food, Creativity, Community, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA

• ICA: On The Road, The Club VIP Lounge, Norman Y. Mineta International Airport, San Jose, CA

• The Meaning of Geographic Origin in the Digital Era, Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco, CA

2012 • Artists’ Ink, George Adams Gallery, New York, NY

• Party Headquarters, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, NY

• Sin and Redemption, SFMOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA

• XX: Women, Art & Science, Library Art Gallery, Sonoma State University, Rhonert Park, CA

• Portraiture Post Facebook, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA

• Indelibly Yours: Smith Andersen Editions and the Tattoo Project, de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara

University, Santa Clara, CA; traveled to: Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV (2013); Flint Institute of Arts, Graphic Arts Gallery, Flint, MI (2014); Robert F. Agrella Art Gallery, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA (2014) (catalogue)

2011 • TEL-ART-PHONE, Beacon Arts Building, Inglewood, CA

• Pornucopia, Allegra LaViola Gallery, New York, NY

2010 • The More Things Change/Shadowshop, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

• On Site/In Sight, de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA

2009 • Art on Market Street, Bedford Gallery, Dean Lesher Center, Walnut Creek, CA

• It’s Not Us, It’s You, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA

2008 • The Western Front, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

• Banned and Recovered, African American Museum and Library, Oakland, CA; traveled to: 

Reese Bullen Gallery, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA (2010); Kolligan Library, 

University of California, Merced, CA (2011); National Steinbeck Center, Salinas, CA (2012) 

(catalogue) 

2006 • Obsessive Nature, Heritage Bank of Commerce, San Jose, CA

• Group Show, Mendenhall Sobieski Gallery, Pasadena, CA

• Conflict and Art, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

• Moxie, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2005 • Print, Process, Collaboration, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA 

• Dialogues, I-5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2004  • Paper Bullets, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

• See California Now, Gallery C, Hermosa Beach, CA

• Terrible Danger Ahead!, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY (catalogue)

• New Prints 2004/Summer, International Print Center New York, New York, NY

• High Fiber, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA

2003 • Global Elegies: Art and Ofrendas for the Dead, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA 

(catalogue)

• Food Matters: Explorations in Contemporary Art, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY (catalogue)

• Splat, Boom, Pow! The Influence of Cartoons in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Arts Museum, 

Houston, TX (catalogue)

• Intersticies, Kellogg University Art Gallery, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA

2002 • High Tech/Low Tech Hybrids, Bedford Gallery, Dean Lesher Center, Walnut Creek, CA

2001 • Rising Tide, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA (catalogue)

2000 • 10 Degrees of Abstraction, Biola University, La Mirada, CA

• Abstraction: From Raucous to Refined, Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center, Walnut Creek, CA

1999 • Paintings, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1998 • Circus Momentous, Wight Art Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA

Selected Bibliography

2020 • Malibu Painting True, Alert the Globe Network, Los Angeles, CA

• Squarecyliner, “Shelter-in-Place Chronicles: Artists Speak, Part Two”, by David M. Roth,

April 22, San Francisco, CA

2019 • KQED Arts, “Artistic Encounters With Animals Say Something About Being Human”, 

by Matthew Harrison Tedford, October 22, San Francisco, CA

• Palo Alto Online, “Exploring animal ‘Encounters’ at the Palo Alto Art Center”, 

by Karla Kane, October 2, Palo Alto, CA

• The CA Modernist, “Surrealism Swept Mid-Century America”, by Dave Weinstein,

September 9, San Francisco, CA

• Artsy Shark, “Featured Artist: Kara Maria”, August 29, artsyshark.com 

2018 • Squarecylinder, “Best of 2018” by David M. Roth, December 22, San Francisco, CA

• San Francisco Chronicle, “Charles Demarais’ Art Picks” by Charles Desmarais, March 9,

San Francisco, CA

• San Francisco Chronicle, “Impact of Jim Hodges, Kara Maria gallery shows impossible to

reproduce” by Charles Desmarais, March 1, San Francisco, CA

• Squarecylinder, “Kara Maria @ Catharine Clark” by David M. Roth, February 16,

San Francisco, CA

2017 • Squarecylinder, “Detritus @ San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art” by Barbara Morris,

August 12, San Francisco, CA

• A5 Magazine, Portfolio #3, June, London, England

2016 • Bared: Contemporary Poetry and Art on Bras and Breasts, by Laura Madeline Wiseman, Les

Femmes Folles Books, Omaha, NE

• 101 Artists, Artvoices Art Books Publishing, Los Angeles, CA

• Kara Maria: Head Over Heels, University Art Gallery, California State University, Chico, CA

• Chico Enterprise-Record, “Kara Maria art speaks more than color, style”, by Emily Bertolino,

Saturday, March 5, Chico, CA

2015 • Squarecylinder, “Kara Maria @ Catharine Clark”, by David M. Roth, September 24,

San Francisco, CA

• The Pacifican, “Spring from trash to art”, by Nicole Felkins, April 9, Stockton, CA

• Paint Pulse Magazine, Issue 1, February, Boston, MA

• Sacramento News & Review, “Emotional electricity”, Thursday, February 12, Sacramento, CA

• SF Weekly, “Kings and queens of the heap”, by Laura Jaye Cramer, Friday, January 23, 

San Francisco, CA

2014 • metroactive, “Kith and Kin”, by Dewitt Cheng, October 1-7, San Jose, CA

• Sartle., “Deployment in Wonderland”, by Angelica Jardini, July, San Francisco, CA

2013 • Las Vegas Weekly, “Donna Beam’s Indelibly Yours Finds Artists Working in Unfamiliar

Disciplines”, by Kristen Peterson, Wednesday, October 16, Las Vagas, NV

• Las Vegas City Life, “Exploring Interconnections of Ink, Plate and Skin”, by Jenessa Kenway,

October 16, Las Vegas, NV

2012 • Royal Cheese, “These Opposite Breasts”, November 16, Moscow, Russia

• Beautiful/Decay Book 9: The Seven Deadly Sins, by Amir H. Fallah, Los Angeles, CA

• Dallas Morning News, Art Notes, “As American as Sex and War”, by Michael Granberry,  

Sunday, August 12, Dallas, TX

• Squarecylinder.com, Sin & Redemption, by David M. Roth, August 4, San Francisco, CA

• SFMOMA Artists Gallery, “A Conversation with Artist Kara Maria”, by Susan Burke, July 20, San Francisco, CA

• ARTnews,“Portraiture Post Facebook”, by Lea Feinstein, page 128, Summer, New York, NY

• Juxtapoz, “Kara Maria: Dystopia”, Ed. Hannah Stouffer, July 12, San Francisco, CA

2011 • New York Post, “LES ‘Porn’ exhibit riles Jewish neighbors”, by Rebecca Rosenberg,

Tuesday, March 15, New York, NY

• New York Press, “Porn of Plenty”, by Nicholas Wells, Wednesday, February 9, New York, NY

2009 • The Sacramento Bee, WeekendTicket, “You Gotta Have Art…”, June 12, Sacramento, CA

• Sacramento News & Review, “Chaos on Canvas”, June 11, Sacramento, CA

• Metro Silicon Valley, “Take a Hike”, by Michael S. Gant, April 15, San Jose, CA 

• The Mercury News, “It’s all about rejection…”, by Karen D’Souza, April 3, San Jose, CA

• artnet Magazine, “Culture Jam”, by Jesi Khadivi, Los Angeles, CA

• THE Magazine Los Angeles, “The Western Front: Inaugural Group Show”, by Peter Frank,

 January, Santa Monica, CA

2008 • Citizen LA, “Charlie James Gallery”, by Andie Villafañe, Holiday Issue, Los Angeles, CA

• San Francisco Chronicle, 96 Hours, “Banned and Recovered”, Reyhan Harmanci, Thursday, 

August 14, San Francisco, CA

• San Francisco Chronicle, 96 Hours, “Power Play”, Reyhan Harmanci, Thursday, January

24, San Francisco, CA

• SF Weekly, “Bombs Bursting”, by Michael Leaverton, January 16-22, Volume 26, Number 51, 

San Francisco, CA

2007 • Santa Barbara News-Press, “Porn & War – Kara Maria’s ‘Paradise Lost’ exhibit titillates while 

packing a punch.”, by Josef Woodard, Friday, July 13, Santa Barbara, CA

• Santa Barbara Independent, “’Paradise Lost’ by Kara Maria”, by Heather Jeno, Thursday,

July 5, 2007, Santa Barbara, CA

2006 • Visalia Lifestyle Magazine, “The Cheerful Apocalypse”, by Aaron Collins, June, Visalia, CA

• San Francisco Chronicle, Datebook, “’Moxie’ at Clark”, by Kenneth Baker, Saturday, 

February 18, San Francisco, CA

2004 • SF Weekly, Night & Day, “Paper Machine”, by Karen Macklin, October 20, San Francisco, CA

2003 • Los Angeles Times, “A Welcome Addition in Ojai”, by Josef Woodard, October 23, 

Los Angeles, CA

• Art in America, “Report from Houston: Learning from Comics”, by Frances Colpitt,

October, New York, NY 

• Kitchen Sink, “The Bigger Picture: Paintings and Politics”, by Alison Bing, Vol. 1, Issue 2, 

Summer, Oakland, CA

2002 • San Francisco Examiner, “ArtSpeak with Kara Maria”, by Anne Crump, Thursday, 

October 3, San Francisco, CA  

2001 • NY Arts, “West Berkeley: A Hotbed Still”, by Daniel Rothbart, November, Volume 6, 

Number 11, New York, NY

2000 • San Francisco Chronicle, Datebook, “The Last Gasps of Abstraction”, by Kenneth Baker, Saturday, September 2, San Francisco, CA

• Artweek, “Kara Maria at a.o.v.”, by Juan Rodriguez, September, Vol. 31, Issue 9, San Jose, CA

Selected Awards/Honors

2019 • 2020 Los Angeles Billboard Show, The Billboard Creative, Los Angeles, CA

2015 • Montalvo Arts Center, Lucas Artists Residency Program, Lucas Fellowship, Saratoga, CA

2014 • Recology Artist in Residence Program, Artist Residency, San Francisco, CA

2008 • SF Weekly, Masterminds Grant, San Francisco, CA

2003 • Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Artist Residency, Woodside, CA

2001 • Artadia, Grants to Individual Artists, New York, NY

2000 • de Young Museum, Artist Studio Program, Artist-in-Residence, San Francisco, CA

• Headlands Center for the Arts, Affiliate Artist Residency, Sausalito, CA

1997 • University of California, Eisner Prize in Art, Berkeley, CA 

Selected Public Art Commissions

2020 • StreetSmARTS mural commission, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA

2014 • Passport 2014, San Francisco Arts Commssion, San Francisco, CA

2004 • Hearts in San Francisco, SF General Hospital Foundation, San Francisco, CA (catalogue)

2003 • Art on Market Street Kiosk Poster Series, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA

Selected Permanent Collections

Ascent Private Capital Management, San Francisco, CA

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), Berkeley, CA

Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA

de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA

di Rosa, Napa, CA

Ellie Mae, Pleasanton, CA

Federal Reserve Board, Washington, DC

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, San Francisco, CA

Google, Mountian View, CA

Hess Corporation, New York, NY

Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA

Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV

Recology, San Francisco, CA

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, San Francisco, CA

San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA

Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA

The Janet Turner Print Museum, California State University, Chico, CA

Visa, San Francisco, CA

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