About the Artist
Kara Lin is a Portrait artist based in Virginia. They first started oil painting at the age of 14 when they attended the highschool scholarship class at The Yellow Barn. After Highschool Kara trained as a Seamstress and worked in fashion design and costuming which would later be a large influence on their painting subject. At the age of 25 They decided to make a career change and pursue the fine arts after having put their painting aside for many years. It was at this point Kara attended the Compass Atelier Master Artist Program from April 2020 to 2023.
They have had their work in the Emerging Artists Exhibition at the Delaplaine Arts Center where they won the people's choice award. They also had work in the Maryland Art Association’s 2022 Paint the Town Exhibition, and the Maryland Federation of Art’s 2022 Strokes of Genius Exhibition in Annapolis.
Artist's Statement
Playing dress up usually means silly clothing and pretending you are someone or something you are not. I still like to play dress up though its meaning for me has changed as i've grown. Throughout my life my everyday clothing, body modifications and makeup were a way for me to express myself. Dressing up was my way of hiding from myself. By painting myself in costume, dressing up would become my way to feel my most authentic self. I was able to see that no matter what I wore I still have the same eyes, same face, and the same bones underneath it all.
Through my use of subject, a high contrast palette and mix of large loose brushstrokes with moments of controlled detail I call back to the macabre and theatrical elements of the Pre-Raphaelite and Baroque eras. Being a bit dark and dramatic myself, this is further emphasized by the method and style in which I paint.