Vivid colors and bold patterns carefully painted by Chloe York are on display at Kentuck's Gallery at Hotel Indigo until August 2, 2021. Chloe has been working professionally for about 10 years, and her eye catching pieces draw their whimsical inspiration from the cherished seaside memories of her childhood.
As a young girl, Chloe's family built and lived in a beach house in the Bahamas where she first discovered her love for the underwater world. Her family soon moved to the landlocked state of Kentucky where Chloe grew up, but they would always travel back to the shore a couple of times each year.
"My formative years we were in the ocean all the time, and I really loved all of the bright colors that people painted their houses and all of the Bohemian folk art."
Inspired by the colorful environment of tropical towns and nature's aquatic masterpieces, Chloe combined the beauty she saw around her with a bit of artistic magic and developed her charming visual vocabulary of saturated colors, meticulous patterns, and organic shapes. Chloe's paintings all start as a background of solid color, then she adds on the large shapes, and then finishes the piece off with small details and patterns. Layering is an important element of Chloe's work and allows her to create pieces that are harmoniously both dimensionless and elaborate.
"These are shapes that I've been using in my work for years and years, so it's all very intuitive."
Chloe's organized work is a testament to her multi-tasking expertise both in the studio and at home. She tends to work on multiple pieces at once, using leftover paint from the background of one piece to create the details of another, building color combinations as she goes. Chloe shared, "the pieces all really inform each other as I'm working on them." In addition to her work as a professional artist, Chloe and her husband, Eric Quick, also own a home goods company called Mytho Menagerie, which specializes in curious décor, antiques, and taxidermy. Chloe currently resides in Birmingham, Alabama with sculptor Eric Quick and ferocious daughter Echo in their shared home and studio.
You can find Chloe on Instagram and Facebook @chloe.york.art
Seascapes will be on view at Kentuck's satellite gallery at Hotel Indigo until August 2, 2021. We encourage you to visit this vibrant show in person! Interested in purchasing a piece of Chloe's work? Please email kentuck@kentuck.org or give us a call at 205-758-1257.