Kelly Reemtsen

Stylish women in brightly colored hoop skirts and cinch-waist dresses wield power tools and juggle bubbles in the paintings and woodcuts of Kelly Reemtsen. Though the clothing worn by Reemtsen’s figures recalls the era of June Cleaver and 1950s housewives, her subjects are completely divorced from any particular temporal or spatial context, floating elegantly upon thickly textured white backgrounds. The artist imbues her works with a sardonic sense of humor by cropping her figures at the neck and knees, with the headless figures identified solely by their clothes and the objects that they hold, often a household tool that could, under grisly circumstances, double as a murder weapon. Reemtsen’s female subjects represent a darkly humorous take on the empowered modern woman, deftly prepared for whatever challenge comes their way. 

Reemtsen's work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States.