Kika Karadi

American-Hungarian artist Kika Karadi is best known for her large-scale abstract paintings. The work she creates is made in response to the aesthetics of the film noir genre, featuring figurative forms, atmospheric cinematic scenes, and symbols. Throughout her career, the artist has exhibited in numerous galleries around the world, including in London, New York, and Milan, to name a few. Karadi's work has also been shown at the 2nd Prague Biennale and the 51st Venice Biennale. In 2019 she participated in the Art For Change, from which a portion of proceeds was donated to The Bridge Golf Foundation, a nonprofit organization.

The Artist's Education 

Born in 1975 in Budapest, Hungary, Kika Karadi relocated to the United States in 1986 when she was just 11 years old. The artist finished high school at the New World School of Arts in Miami and went on to study at Maryland Institute College of Art, from which she graduated in 1997 with a B.F.A. After receiving an Artist Fellowship Grant at the K.E.T.E, she moved for three years to Athens. In 1996, she joined the student exchange program at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris.

Karadi had her first solo show in 2006 in Naples, which was well received by both art lovers and critics who published positive reviews in Flash Art magazines and Artforum.

Kika Karadi's Exhibitions 

The artist creates large-scale monochromatic paintings by applying stencils and oil-based black ink to glass, where she first rearranges the paint and then transfers it to linen once finished. The painting process for Karadi is intuitive. The ghostlike and ephemeral narrative is often at the conceptual heart of her practice. The striking gestures create a visual language that possesses a distilled mystery. The essence in all her work might be somewhat esoteric, yet it is always sharply felt.

Karadi has, over the course of her career, participated in several major group shows, including Abstraction: A Visual Language (2015) at Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago, Mystic Fire at Paradise Row in London, and I Know You Got Soul (2015) Arndt Singapore in New York. In 2016 she had a solo exhibition entitled Funny Farm at The Journal Gallery in Tribeca, where in 2017, she took part in a group show, Drawing Island.

Kika Karadi lives and works between New York and Minnesota.

Featured image: Photo of Kika Karadi. Copyright of the artist.