Genetically Commodified
work by Kirsten Stolle (www.geneticallycommodified.com)
Reception: Friday, March 2, 6-9pm
Exhibit Dates: March 2-31, 2012

Personalized Real® Dolls is a series of 9 narrative gouache/graphite/collage drawings of fantastical morphing dolls commenting on the unintended consequences of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).  The exaggerated doll bodies, a mash-up of biological forms (cells, viruses, bacterium) and colorful clothing (ribbons, bows, skirts, hats), aims to stimulate the curiosity of viewers by using a blend of the familiar and the strange, the organic and the manufactured and the imagined and the real.

About the Artist
Kirsten Stolle makes abstract and, often narrative paintings and drawings based on human and natural forms.  Her pieces are built up using a variety of mediums: gouache, acrylic paint, ink, oil, graphite, collage and sometimes wax.  She invents worlds that are frequently strange and ambiguous, owing much of her inspiration to ecological issues.

In 2009, she was the recipient of the San Francisco Arts Commission Cultural Equity Grant for Individual Artists. The grant was used to support the development of her project “Anatomy of a Future Forest”, a visual arts and educational project that explored future ecological scenarios within the context of global warming and other environmental impacts. The project culminated in her third solo exhibition at Dolby Chadwick Gallery in March 2010.

Additional solo exhibition venues include Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, UT and Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, NYC, NY. Group exhibition highlights include Ucross: Twenty-Seven Years of Visual Arts Residencies, Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY and Neo Mod: Recent Northern California Abstraction, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA.

Her work is included in the permanent collection of the San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento, CA and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN.  She has been actively involved in artist residency programs including the Ucross Foundation for the Arts, Clearmont, WY; The Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY; Blue Mountain Center, Blue Mountain, NY; Anderson Center for the Arts, Red Wing, MN; Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, Portland, OR; Spiro Arts Center, Park City, UT; and The Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle, Ireland.