GILLES CLEMENT GALLERY

KATHLEEN WILKE

 

Kathleen Wilke was born in Youngstown Ohio, and raised in Cincinnati.  She attended both the Art Academy of Cincinnati, and the Art Institute of Boston where she studied photography and Illustration.
Kathleen began her photography career in portraiture, then evolving into fine art, now primarily underwater.  Her work captures unique moments that only could be achieved with the magic water creates, the model's effortless buoyancy, and the play of light and reflection, making a true work of art.  Kathleen's images are sometimes one image which stands alone in its beauty, or she creates more complex photographs, using multiple digital files to complete her vision.

 

Kathleen Wilke blurs the lines of poetry and fiction through her underwater photography. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Wilke attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati and graduated from The Art Institute of Boston, where she majored in illustration and photography.

 

Changing water effects illuminate the simplest subjects and transform imagery into beautiful, surreal and ethereal, painterly masterpieces. Sometimes her subjects are so peaceful and almost appear to be sleeping. Other underwater Wilke subjects are seen dancing and playing, with mischievous, provocative, and nymph-like qualities. Yet other times, the viewer is directly transported into the thoughts and emotion of her characters.

 

Wilke was first place winner in the Unscene Tour, 2008, a photographic competition generated in Los Angeles. In 2009, she was chosen as a recipient of the famed New Dallas Nine Award. Since then, Wilke has exhibited at AQUA Art Fair Miami Beach, Affordable Art Fairs in New York City, London, Hong Kong and Singapore, SUITE Art Fair in Dallas, Texas, and the Asia Contemporary Art Show in Hong Kong (2015). Her images have been chosen for international publicity of each fair.

 

Kathleen Wilke currently resides and works in Dallas, Texas.