Viridian Artists is delighted to present ICONIC IMAGINATIONS, a solo exhibition of works by KATHLEEN KING exploring the symbolic terrain where mythology, psychology, fantasy, and the subconscious converge. The exhibition will be on view from September 29 through October 17, 2026. An Opening Reception will be held on Thursday, October 1, from 6–8 PM, followed by a Closing Reception on Saturday, October 17, from 4–6 PM. This is King’s fifth solo exhibition with the gallery.

In ICONIC IMAGINATIONS, Kathleen King’s chimera-like figures inhabit a world of shifting identities and opposing forces. Suggesting guardians and angels, demons and mythical beings, they embody dualities that recur throughout the human experience: light and shadow, masculine and feminine, strength and vulnerability, order and chaos. At times, these energies appear to confront one another; at others, they join in unexpected harmony, suggesting resilience, transformation, and the possibility of balance. Her imagery is both fanciful and, at times, baroque, yet darker undercurrents continually surface beneath its visual exuberance.

Influenced by ideas associated with Carl Jung, particularly archetypes and the collective unconscious, King approaches these hybrid figures not as characters within fixed narratives, but as metaphorical presences that emerge through a combination of conscious reflection and subconscious intuition. The structure of the series also echoes the experience of reading tarot cards. Rather than predicting the future, each image serves as a catalyst for reflection, encouraging viewers to engage their own intuition and associations.

King’s mixed-media process begins with photographic elements incorporated into digital prints on canvas, providing an anchor of observed reality beneath increasingly imaginative passages of paint. She then works over these printed surfaces with acrylic, building layered compositions in which photographic detail, abstraction, painterly gesture, and illusion intersect. King uses digital technology primarily to capture, arrange, juxtapose, and compose imagery before returning to the physical surface of the work. She describes herself not as a “pure painter,” but as an artist working in a collage mode, informed by her background in printmaking and her willingness to move freely among media.

The resulting images occupy a space between the recognizable and the invented. King’s dense compositions reward sustained viewing. Numerous visual relationships unfold across each surface, encouraging the eye to travel through layers of figures, textures, gestures, and associations. Rather than delivering a singular message, King’s works open a door to contemplation, imagination, and the mysteries of the inner life.

Kathleen King lives and works in Chicago, IL, and Boca Raton, FL. She holds an MFA and BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Represented by Viridian Artists, King has exhibited her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, including the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL), École des Beaux-Arts de Saint-Étienne (Saint-Étienne, France), The Drawing Center (Seoul, Korea), Onward Gallery (Tokyo, Japan), SoHo20 Gallery (New York, NY), Loyola University Museum of Art (Chicago, IL), and Elmhurst Art Museum (Elmhurst, IL), among others. King has worked as an adjunct professor at Korea University in South Korea (2007–2019); Loyola University Chicago (1977–2010); the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1989–2001); and the University of Wisconsin (1977).

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