Ana Karkar

Overview

Portrait of Ana Karkar. Photo: Kira Bunse. © Ana Karkar. Courtesy of the Artist and Galerie Marguo.

Ana Karkar's paintings have a distant memory of films, not at all virtuous, more haunted than exact. Ana Karkar paints these images of films as they continue to live in us, after their projection, inhabiting the back of our mind: caution, a permanent storm.

— Philippe Azoury, Journalist and Film Critic

Ana Karkar is a French-American artist based in Paris, whose work draws upon influences from the Vienna Secession. In her paintings of nudes, twisted and entwined bodies form a danse macabre reminiscent of Egon Schiele, or are joined in passionate freedom, echoing Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss.

Born and raised in San Francisco, she studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, the Sorbonne and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. She dropped out of her MFA for a job at Louis Vuitton HQ where she worked for 7 years in image production and digital media. In 2013 she was mentored in the TURPS Correspondence program based in London.

Her work is influenced by underground film and cinema, both for its technical experimentation and unbridled characters. Karkar’s practice similarly approaches painting as an act of liberatory expression, and explores the capacity of art objects to serve as conduits of shared energy between maker and viewer. The storytelling in her work is inspired by film directors such as Shuji Terayama, Brian De Palma and Dario Argento as well as a number of contemporary photographers and found erotica. Her painterly stroke evokes that of Edvard Munch, Francis Bacon and Egon Schiele as well as the Viennese Secession reprised in Psychedelic Art from her hometown.

Recent solo and group exhibitions include Whole Cookie at Almine Rech, London, GB (2024, solo), LOVECHILD at Almine Rech, Brussels, BE (2024, solo), Blackout Romeo at Behind The Door, Paris, FR (2024, group), ART021 Shanghai fair with Galerie Marguo (2023, group), KIAF SEOUL fair with Galerie Marguo (2023, solo) and Box of Earth at Baert Gallery, Los Angeles, US (2023, solo).

Ana’s work can be found in public collections including the Longlati Foundation (Shanghai, China), Ståhl Collection (Norrköping, Sweden), Zhi Art Museum (Chengdu, China), Yageo Foundation (Taipei, Taiwan), and He Art Museum (Foshan, China).

Download Artist's CV

Biography

Ana Karkar, On a dime, 2023, oil on linen 130 x 97 cm (detail). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Marguo

Born in San Francisco, United States in 1986
Currently lives and works in Paris, France

EDUCATION

2016	TURPS Art School, London, UK
2010	Université Panthéon-Sorbonne, Arts et Sciences de l'Art, Paris, France
2008	École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris
2004	San Francisco Art Institute, USA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024	Almine Rech, Whole Cookie, London, UK
2023	Almine Rech, LOVECHILD, Brussels, Belgium
	Galerie Marguo, Kiaf Seoul 2023, Seoul, Korea
	Baert Gallery, Box of Earth, Los Angeles, CA
	Nosbaum Reding, Art Brussel, Brussel, Belgium
	Nosbaum Reding, Villains Vault, Luxembourg
2022	Galerie Marguo, Return From Exile, Paris, France
2019	DZIALDOV, We value your privacy, Berlin, Germany
	Copie Service, Spine to Perform an Exorcism, Paris, France
2018	Le Consulat de la Gaité, Where there’s smoke, Paris, France
2015	Meta-Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Unmanifest Territories, North Miami, FL

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025	Aye Project Space, Reunion, Hong Kong
2024	Galerie Marguo, Deli Dali, Paris, France
	Behind the Door Gallery, Blackout Romeo, Paris, France
2023	Galerie Marguo, Art021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, Shanghai, China
2022	Galerie Marguo, ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, Shanghai, China
	Nosbaum Reding, Fundamental Occurrences, Brussels, Belgium
	Minus 1 Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2021	N.104 Gallery, Seasons of Nebula, Tokyo, Japan
	ArtParis & Hors Cadre at Grand Palais Ephémère, Portraits et figuration. Regard sur la scène francaise, curated by Hervé Mikaeloff, Paris, France
	König Galerie, MISA Discoveries, Berlin, Germany
	König Galerie, Messe in St Agnes, Berlin, Germany
	Tata bookshop, Iwakan 2, Tokyo, Japan
	Horscadre, Intimations, Paris, France
2020	Nosbaum Reding, Brussels Galerie Ephémère, Brussels, Belgium
2019	Nosbaum Reding, Just So Stories, Luxembourg
	Galerie PCP, Café Spit, Paris, France
2018	SFMOMA, Submission Friday, online
	Laundry Artspace, Colourful Chaos by FluxKUNST, Brisbane, Australia
2017	DZIALDOV, L'homme Sauvage, Berlin, Germany
	Andrew Edlin Gallery, Et Tu, Art Brute?, New York, NY
	La Galerie 36 rue Notre Dame de Nazareth, Night School, Paris, France
	Zaratan Arte Contemporânea, BYOB_Lx, Lisbon, Portugal
	DZIALDOV, …why not hug the strangers., Berlin, Germany
2016	SFMOMA, Submission Friday, online
	Turps Correspond, The Artworks, Halifax, UK
	IR11, Edinburgh, UK
	Londonewcastle Project Space, London, UK
2015	DZIALDOV, Malfunction, Berlin, Germany
	Glasgow Openhouse, Cold on the Outside, Glasgow, UK
	Passage Choiseul, FTO #2, Paris, France
	Assembly House, Figure This Out, Leeds, UK
2014	Turps Painting Studio, Correspond, London, UK
	DZIALDOV, Re-Boot, Berlin, Germany
2012	Galerie Christian Berst, Surf Your Mind, Paris, France
2010	Centre Commerciale Sans Commerce, CHIC Art Fair, Cité de la Mode et du Design, Paris, France
	Centre Culturel Auguste Dobel, Chez Jack, Paris, France
2009	« La Petite Ceinture » 75020, Chemins de Fer, Paris, France
2008	Centre Saint Charles, Untitled, Paris, France
2006	Carrousel du Louvre, I V Y Paris, Paris, France