I am an oil painter, a printmaker, and a documentarian of the human-built landscape. I capture specific moments in time, painting and drawing the in-between spaces and mundane objects that quietly dominate our visual experience of the world. I often work directly from life and primarily en plein air, heavily influenced by the working methods of American street photographers. What does my world really look like? What can I see today that I couldn’t see yesterday and won’t see tomorrow? The Grand Canyon will look the same in 50 years; what about the McDonald’s drive-throughs and Walmart parking lots? How can I evoke future nostalgia?
In the fall of 2019, I set out to capture the human-built American landscape by creating plein air paintings in all 50 states in one year. After 17 states and 4 months of travel, the pandemic hit. I returned home to Arlington, but continued the work of documenting America through the experience of social isolation. Instead of painting landscapes, I turned to still life — rolls of toilet paper, knocked-over lawn chairs, dropped ice cream cones — and quiet scenes of domesticity. These pandemic paintings are silly and a little melancholy. A meaningful painting doesn’t always have to be a serious one.
In April of 2021, I got back on the road and made my way through the remaining 33 states over the next 7 months. The completed body of work is a time capsule of over 200 paintings, all small enough to fit in the 8×8” wooden boxes in which I stored them. The paintings I made on the road capture America’s sprawling national aesthetic of big box stores, parking lots, and gas stations. Although I drove over 46,000 miles to paint every state, the paintings all look like Anytown, USA. Our nation is vast, complex, and divided — and yet a visual unity persists.
My instagram handles are @kateflemingpaintings and @the50statesproject_
