Emily Klima

ArtistPainting

Aug 4

Written By Claudia Elliott

Emily Klima was born and raised in Port Washington, New York. Attended Boston University School of Fine Art and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design.
Ms. Klima began her robust career in the fashion publication industry as a designer and then art director. After a decade art directing for magazines such as Harper's BAZAAR and GQ, Ms. Klima went on to freelance and start her own graphic design business.
During that time she also rediscovered her love of painting and slowly left the design world behind to put her focus on creating colorful, abstract, mixed media paintings.
Ms. Klima currently exhibits and sells her work across the globe as well as keeps a steady schedule of annual commissioned artworks. Ms. Klima is also the founder of The Artist's Halo—a small but growing, diverse community of artists of all disciplines that support and disrupt the status quo.
EXHIBITIONS
2020 July • Curtis Grant Collection • Los Angeles, CA
2020 January • Dacia Gallery/Group Show • NYC
2019 November • Open Studio Exhibition • Reis Studios • LIC, NY
2019 April/May • Exhibition • NYA Gallery • NYC
2018 September • Exhibition • The Factory • LIC, NY
2018 July • Exhibition • Plaxall Gallery • LIC, NY
2018 May/June • Exhibition • Plaxall Gallery • LIC, NY
2016 June • Exhibition • 888 Gallery • New York, NY
2015 July-Aug • Juried Show Winner/JAM Gallery • Malvern, PA
2015 May • Experimental Space Gallery • Reis Studios • LIC, NY
2014 December • SCOPE Art Miami at ArtBasel • Miami, FL
2014 Oct/Nov • SpaceWOMB Gallery • NYC
2014 June-October • 215 Sullivan Street • NYC
2013 October • Exhibition • 308 Gallery • New York, NY
2013 Permanent Collection • Bank Of America • New York, NY
2013 April • Exhibition • Kent Home Gallery • Chappaqua, NY
2013 March • Exhibition • Laughing Lotus Gallery, NYC
2012 October • Solo Exhibition • Prince George Gallery, NYC
2012 Kent Home Gallery • Chappaqua, NY
2012 January • LA Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA
2010 October • Solo Exhibition • Prince George Gallery, NYC
2010 May • Gallery Show • JCC, Springfield, MA
2010 Betty Wasserman Art & Interiors, NYC
2009 May • Solo Exhibition • Prince George Gallery, NYC
2008 May • Group Show/LWALA Benefit, NYC
2007 September • Golden Eagle Gallery • Easthampton, NY
PRESS
2021 Featured Art • Candy Floss Magazine
2018 Featured Art • HBO’s “Orange Is The New Black”
2018 Featured Art • Tax Collection
2017 Featured Art • HBO’s “Divorce”
2016 TASNY • NYC
2014 November • Finalist for Solo Show at Dacia Gallery, NYC
2013 March • Featured Artwork on Indiewalls, NYC (click here)
2011 E! Channel • “Kim & Kourtney take New York”|
2008 September • WNBC LXTV • Art Studio New York
2008 April • Diva Magazine • Featured Art
EDUCATION
BFA • School of Fine Arts, Boston University, Boston, MA
Parsons School of Design, New York, NY (Credits Program)
School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
National Academy of Fine Arts, NY
DESIGN
emkDesign • Graphic Design, NYC
Harper’s BAZAAR, Hearst Magazines
Mademoiselle, Condé Nast Publications, Inc.
GQ Magazine, Condé Nast Publications, Inc.
Seventeen Magazine, New York Media LLC
After a robust career as an Art Director for various fashion publications, I rediscovered my love of painting and felt a strong need to defy what I had been taught about art making.
From that perspective, I began to explore the inherent raw power of abstract painting and how it evokes a freedom to be fully present.
I rarely paint what I see or think I see, but paint with an energetic desire—a call to create. My creative process comes from feeling inspired by life experiences.
There is so much personal growth that occurs in my work. Who "I am” at any given moment is what shows up on my canvas. I am a creative vessel that thrives on emotion and change.
Painting in my studio or showing my work, organically brings out the best expression of myself. My work is alive with color and an energy created by drips and splatters, mixed media, collage elements and text. Added layers of resin or the use of oil sticks give my work a glossy or velvety finish.
I exploit my formal training in drawing or painting to break free of its strictures. In all of my work, there is a consistent exploration of tension between order and chaos—discipline and freedom. Every painting contains within it my process of moving from control to letting go of control, and back again.
My current work of abstract, mixed media and collage paintings are an expression of my year during the pandemic. In many ways disrupted, yet also incredibly elevated