Katherine Sherwood

Golgi’s Door
The National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC
December 11, 2007 – February 22, 2008
Click on any image to enlarge


Zepar, 2007
mixed media on canvas
36” x 36”



Purkinje, 2007
mixed media on canvas
20” x 20”



Spastic, 2002-03
Mixed media on canvas
57 1/4” x 80”



The Cart Before the Horse, 2003-04
Mixed media on canvas
82” x 108”



Martiniland, 2000
Mixed media on canvas
58” x 66”



Secret Agent, 2003-04
Mixed media on canvas
52” x 48”



Attracts Business, 2004
Mixed media on canvas
28” x 24”



Teaches Literature, 2003-04
Mixed media on canvas
28” x 24”



Grants Favors, 2004
Mixed media on canvas
30” x 24”



Chink-in-Full, 2003
Mixed media on canvas
30” x 24”



Big Gremory, 2001
Mixed media on canvas
108” x 96”



Virtues of Stones and Plants, 2001
Mixed media on canvas
84” x 108”



Yuck Yum, 1998
Mixed media on canvas
70" x 48"



Enchanted Loom, 1999
Mixed media on canvas
72" x 60"



Crybaby, 1999
Mixed media on canvas
72" x 48"



Brains, 1998
Mixed media on canvas
70" x 48"



Grem, Grem, Gremory- 4, 2002
Monoprint with hand work
23” x 18”



Grem, Grem, Gremory-1, 2002
Monoprint with hand work
23” x 18”



All in One - 6, 2002
Monoprint with xerox transfer and handwork
42” x 29.5”



The Way of Chink- 2, 2002
Monoprint with xerox transfer and handwork
42” x 29.5”

Katherine Sherwood's paintings display her signature style and technique - vivid compositions of calligraphic swirls of thick paint over a thickly textured ground incorporating collaged circles of printed rice paper. Her paintings address two philosophies of confronting the unknown.

The graphic shapes made by large gestures of dripping paint are based on medieval luck talismans. Over the 20-plus years of her painting career, Katherine Sherwood’s symbols have grown from precisely rendered, literal motifs to powerfully spontaneous expressions of the desire to intuit one’s fate. Within the painted surface of the canvas, Sherwood layers circles of rice paper with images of the blood vessels of the brains. These angiograms belong to an expanding visual language that fascinates the artist. Defined by new technology, the angiograms are part of the bank of imagery based in scientific pursuit, things that cannot really be seen with our unassisted eyes. Sherwood’s paintings beautifully play with our striving to know more, to control our future.

The artist has exhibited her work broadly, including the Whitney Biennial (1998) and two recent solo shows in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, and has been the recipient of numerous Awards, including the Adeline Kent Award from the San Francisco Art Institute. She is currently a Professor at the School of Art Practice at the University of California in Berkeley.

Click here for: Katherine Sherwood in Visionary Anatomies at The National Academies

Copyright Gallery Paule Anglim
14 Geary Street | San Francisco, CA 94108 | 415.433.2710