Kim Tateo
About the Artist
Kim Tateo is an artist, musician and educator living in Troy, NY. She is also the Executive Director and Farm Manager of Friends of Tivoli Lake Preserve and Farm which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that facilitates conservation, environmental education and outdoor recreation within Tivoli Lake Preserve which is located in an Environmental Justice (EJ) community in Albany, New York.
Kim was born in 1984 in Seoul, South Korea. She was adopted when she was three months old and grew up in the state of Iowa. She received a BA of Music from the University of Iowa. After college, she relocated to New York City where she resided for nearly 10 years before moving to upstate NY.
As an artist, Kim explores connections of the seen and unseen and works in all mediums including paint, glitter, watercolors, pastels, plants, and anything that creates color.
When she is not painting, she is singing or shepherding a flock of sheep (sometimes both simultaneously) and her work is greatly influenced by her time with plants and animals.
Kim has been part of several group exhibitions in NYC and the Capital Region. Highlighted shows include “What Blooms in Moonlight” which was a solo event held at Taste Collection in 2019 and two jury-selected shows, S010 at Con Artist Gallery in collaboration with Meural and The Sixth Annual Regional Juried Art Show at the Spencertown Academy.
Artist Statement
Kim Tateo is an artist who paints her feelings into worlds of whimsy. A common theme for her work is interconnectedness—to each other as humans and to the Earth. Her work moves between releasing feelings into abstract expressions and creating magical worlds which are meant to be the unseen spaces where all hearts are connected. Her work is meant to evoke a sense of dreaming, playfulness, peace and gently pull on the heartstrings of whimsy that are in all beings.
Her recent works have been exploring the idea of moving through the “ego” or the “self” and into the collective—the heart space where we are all flooded with love.
Moving from somewhere to everywhere, moving from someone to everyone, from something to everything.
What is your “Dreamland” ?
My dreaming mind is incredibly important to me and without it I wouldn’t function! As I exist in this space, this form, this being, I am constantly trying to “think” my way to something. In the past two years, I have been reflecting a lot about perception and presence and how to move from “thought” to feeling. I truly believe that it’s in this squishy “feeling” place that humans can connect and really remember our belonging to each other.
I often start a painting based on a feeling or a need to “move through something”, I’m never entirely sure where it will go. After the initial “release”, I pause and try to identify little lands. I move in between painting very detailed worlds and abstract expressions. Painting very detailed worlds becomes a meditation — each dot and line becomes a being bringing life and love to a new area. I create these lands because I like imagining places where we can all get along. Where kindness is ever-present and creatures and pretty things are abundant and remind us of our interconnectedness.
I am inspired by nature and all of the little worlds that I see when exploring mountains, forests or flowers. It may seem like I am simply walking through a forest, but I take time to notice everything, including all of the worlds inside a patch of moss. I believe many of these elements come through in my work. I am also passionate and active when it comes to social and environmental justice. I also allow myself to release these feelings into my art.
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