Karen Tompkins

b. Tulsa , OK

Karen Tompkins’s works reflects the complexity of an infinite cosmos in which everything is connected. As a result, the art she makes depicts the universe from the micro to the macro scale while painting an intricate play of light and form. This awe of nature moves Tompkins to paint lengthy series that are inspired by various areas of science. By painting subjects such as the 118 Elements of the Periodic Table and the 110 objects in space of the Messier Catalogue, she explores the underlying architecture of the cosmos with its vast range of scale and infinite patterns. As astrophysicist, Neil de Grasse Tyson says, “we are in the universe and the universe is in us.” Karen Tompkins works to impart to the viewer a heightened sense of our place in the universe, as beings made of “star stuff.”

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