Dana Louise Kirkpatrick’s voice as an artist stands out in a time when the contemporary art world is driven by postmodern conceptualism. Somewhat of an outsider, Kirkpatrick’s explosive work is brutally honest and unimpaired by art world trends. Her references range from Picasso-like “primitive” art, to Chagall’s poeticism, and Warhol’s pop aesthetic. A graduate of Georgetown University, Kirkpatrick was honored by the University both with the prestigious Leonardo DaVinci Medal for artistic excellence and the Misty Daily Awards. Currently Kirkpatrick studies intermittently at The Art Students League of New York.

The artist’s immediate, insightful style and refreshingly candid approach to making work is obvious in the raw emotion and power of her mixed media compositions. The consistently dynamic works often include coded messages, direct responses to other artists (Grayson Perry, Damien Hirst, Picasso, Pollock, Kahlo, DaVinci, Keith Haring, Jean Michel Basquiat, Warhol, Banksy, Van Gogh, Matisse, DeKooning, etc) and wider complex references from literature, art, music, theology and the underground street cultures of New York City and Los Angeles’s east side. Kirkpatrick’s large-scale works frequently highlight jarring social realities that we would rather look away from; yet somehow they become heroic and sacred.

Preferred artist materials include Montana Gold spray paint, graphite stick, ink, charcoal, pastel, oil stick, pencil and house paint. Currently housed courtesy of Mr. Jon Bresler in the elevator bay of his (Santa Maria Novella/LACFO) 6th St. distribution warehouse, the artist’s borrowed concrete floor is littered with paint spattered pages that sparked her initial inspiration. Canvas and paper are Gorilla Tape’d crudely to the warehouse walls while found wood and doors wait their turn in the corners. Kirkpatrick’s works derive from various source materials, most typically charged images torn from a coffee table book, newspaper, or magazine that are combined and reborn in a new, powerful and deeply layered language. Working on canvas, primed paper, found wood, doors, windows and cardboard picked up on the streets of Manhattan along with an occasional surf board, Kirkpatrick offers a new in your face and decidedly unapologetic translation of the feminine.

With shows sponsored by Quiksilver, and SmartCar under her belt coupled with custom art for Grammy Award winning Director, Jonas Akerlund on his 2010 Rihanna video, various philanthropic endeavors (Silverlake Conservatory of Music, Surfers Healing Autism, Art of Elysium), and recent collaborations with writer Peter Weiss and Canvas Gallery Malibu, Kirkpatrick continues her climb into the ring.