Paintings by artist Khat Karim

UNDER MY SKIN

June 4 – 27, 2015

The Artist

Khat Karim is a self-taught, aspiring artist from Milton, Ontario. She has been exploring her artistic side since her late teenage years. It wasn’t until 2006 that painting in abstract form became her expressive outlet. Khat gets her inspiration from personal life experiences of joy and adversity. Each painting is one-of-a-kind as each feeling and emotion is unique to every experience. Her work symbolizes the push-and-pull aspects of life and relationship through the colliding of colours.

Being influenced by Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock, she channels her energy onto the canvas by untraditional means. She uses her hands and other unorthodox painting tools to drip, splash, pour, and layer paint to create her strikingly, raw, organic works of art. The intricate movements, and swirls in her paintings captures the interplay of skill and unplanned occurrences that determines the final outcome. This process allows her to abandon self-control and surrender to her subconscious bringing forth an emotional release.

These very personal works of art have mostly been shared privately with family and friends, until now where she will be sharing it with the public. Her first solo exhibit, “UNDER MY SKIN”, a series of paintings displaying the rollercoaster journey of self-exploration, will be showcased at THE URBAN GALLERY in Toronto during the month of June 2015.

Khat also has donated some paintings to charitable fundraising events such as the 2013 INSPIRE Awards and the 2014 SPOTLIGHT Fife House Foundation Concert at The Glenn Gould Studio. 

Artist Statement

I don’t paint to recreate a moment from the past.  I paint to create a moment from the present. My goal is to delve deep within myself to draw from a place of vulnerability – a place of unfamiliar territory, to bring about emotional freedom.

REVIEWS

Glenda Fordham blog :
"Another fab soiree with the folks at Toronto’s Urban Gallery…last night they opened their month-long Under My Skin show for Canadian artist Khat Karim, featuring her wildly colourful and movement-filled abstract contemporary work."

novella: Review by Marina Koslock
(9 June 2015)
"Last Friday at the Urban Gallery, we got under Khat Karim’s skin. The self-taught painter from Milton, Ontario had her opening reception for her first gallery showing, UNDER MY SKIN, showcasing abstract paintings rich with raw emotion..."