Kathleen Lolley

Vist OKOK Gallery artist page to see the work of Kathleen Lolley

OKOK Gallery proudly presents new works by Kentucky artist Kathleen Lolley. In this collection of work Lolley’s brand of owls, foxes, and deer embark on an epicurean quest. Throughout these works creatures appear calmly consuming intoxicants in an imaginary age when the liquor was stronger, the smoke was harsher, and children’s stories began and ended a little bit darker. Lolley has created a visual vocabulary that feels familiar yet forgotten. Like tobacco and baseball cards her brand of folklore is bittersweet. Lolley’s use of comic devices renders potentially somber scenes oddly humorous, as animals gush rivers of tears or conveniently catch them in goblets. Lolley delivers the sinister with a smirk and the divine with a shoulder shrug. Her characters never strive to transcend modest pleasure or wholesome adventure making them all the more endearing. These underachievers calmly navigate Lolley’s sparse landscapes, often in the face of danger. Even in their most regal and triumphant moments they appear humble and unassuming.

Kathleen Lolley (born 1978 in Marshfield, Wisconsin) moved to Kentucky nine months after her birth. She spent her childhood split between Louisville, KY and Pittsburgh, PA. She attended California Institute of the Arts and received a BFA in experimental Animation. While at Calarts she experimented with handcrafted stop motion puppets. This experience introduced her to the world of comics and sequential art that lead her to produce her own animation shorts. Last year her works received international recognition by appearing in Elle & Japanese Vogue and by producing the latest My Morning Jacket album cover. She has also been published in a number comic anthologies including Unicorn Mountain and Kramer’s Ergot. Lolley currently resides in Kentucky where she spends her time making crafts, comics and fine art.