Karen Nielsen-Fried

Born in Binghamton, NY / Works in Montclair, NJ

BIO

Karen Nielsen-Fried was born in Binghamton, NY. She is a graduate of Pratt Institute (Master of Professional Studies in Art Therapy) and Binghamton University (BFA). She pursued postgraduate studies at The Institute for Expressive Analysis (NY, NY) and at The National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis (NY, NY). Her work has been exhibited widely in the NY metro area (among others: The Painting Center, NJ State Museum, SITE:Brooklyn, Equity Gallery, Denise Bibro Fine Art) as well as in Seattle, Philadelphia, Provincetown, and Chicago (where she is represented by Addington Gallery).

She was awarded a residency at The Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts. Karen's work is held in numerous private collections nationally, and in Denmark, Germany, and Ghana. She lives and maintains a studio in Montclair, New Jersey.

You'll like Karen if: you enjoy investigating why things are they way they are

Every painting is like an expedition, starting from a point of not-knowing, and proceeding without a conscious plan. Staying open to impulses in the moment allows for the unfolding and synthesis of unsorted and inchoate ideas that will become the form and content of the painting. Scraps of paper or pages rendered in paint are evidence of human expression and notation of experience. Biomorphic and botanical forms, geometric forms and pattern frequently appear in my work. I think of the Self as being made up of all of the scraps and moments of being, and by bringing together disparate elements I create ambiguous narratives that resonate with my truth. I paint in order to find out what I need to put out into the world. This is the mysterious process and pleasure of painting.