KATJA FARIN (b.1996 Los Angeles, CA)
Katja Farin works in figurative painting depicting the interactions between the subconscious and reality. The relationship between figures is uncertain; the everyday life of sitting at coffee shops, wandering in backyard gardens, answering boring phone calls becomes the backdrop for the internal dialogue with the self that contemplates traumas, coping mechanisms, dreams and distortions. The works are dream spaces that allow the viewer to peek into the interior worlds of the figures, their relationships with the self and others. Bright colors, glowing hands and distorted bodies create the dreamlike dysphoric space that these androgynous figures embody.
Farin received a BA in Fine Art from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2018 and received a MFA in Painting from the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Selected solo exhibitions include Friends Indeed (San Francisco), Era Gallery (Milan), Lubov (New York) and in lieu (Los Angeles). Their art has been included in group exhibitions at Pace Gallery (Hong Kong), Alexander Berggruen (New York), Beers (London), Wilding Cran (Los Angeles) and Nicodim (Los Angeles). Their work has been shown in several art fairs including NADA Miami, Miart Milan, KAIF Seoul and Art Taipei Taipei. They live and work in Los Angeles, CA and London, UK.
EDUCATION
2018 University of California Los Angeles BA Fine Art
2025 University College of London: SLADE Prospective MFA Painting
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
Desiree Painting Prize 2025
Hoyt Scholarship 2017-2018
2025 Upcoming: Villa Filanda Antonini October Treviso, Italy
2024 Asia Art Center Residency Program August Nanfang’ao, Yilan Taiwan
2023 Era Gallery Artist Residency May/June Milan, Italy
2022 PPP/Oostmeijer Residency August/September Amsterdam, Netherlands
2021 Dune Shack Residency August Provincetown, MA
2018 Dumfries House Artist Residency September New Cumnock, Scotland
EXHIBITIONS
2025 Tricksters Gaa Gallery New York, NY (Solo Exhibition)
Collective Coma Arusha Gallery, London, UK
2024 All Walks of Life Pace Gallery Hong Kong
Blind Spot Asia Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan (Solo Exhibition)
2023 Friends and Lovers Shulamit Nazarian Los Angeles, CA
Katja Farin, Maria Farrar, Esme Hodsoll, Alyina Zaidi Alexander Berggruen Gallery NY
This Oyster is Our World COMA Gallery Sydney, Australia
2022 Counterfeit Friends Indeed Gallery San Francisco, CA (Solo Exhibition)
Near Miss BGSQD New York, NY (Solo Exhibition)
Mistakes for Small Talk Prior Art Space Berlin, Germany (Solo Exhibition)
Soft Exit Era Gallery Milan, Italy (Solo Exhibition)
Eve Presents Second Edition Eve Leibe Gallery London, UK
THE DAY I SAW YOU: RETRATOS DE LA COLECCIÓN FUNDACIÓN AMMA , AMMA Foundation San Luis Potosí, Mexico
2021 Growth in Absence Era Gallery Milan, Italy (Solo Exhibition)
Hum of Virtue in lieu Gallery Los Angeles, CA (Solo Exhibition)
Wunder Woman: The Female Figurative Beers London Gallery
We Swam as Though the World Weren’t Ending Gallery Gertrude San Francisco, CA
All Tomorrow’s Parties domicile (n.) Gallery Los Angeles, CA
2020 Lines From Arguments Lubov Gallery New York, NY (Solo Exhibition)
PAPA RAGAZZE! Nicodim Gallery Los Angeles, CA
It’s a sad and beautiful world… Wilding Cran Gallery Los Angeles, CA
Drive-By-Art (Public Art in this Moment of Social Distancing) Los Angeles, CA
2019 Carry, Carries, Carried in lieu Gallery Los Angeles, CA (Solo Exhibition)
2018 Give Plaza in lieu Gallery Los Angeles, CA
Tchotchke Reservoir Coyote Los Angeles, CA
Juried Exhibition: Lanka Tattersall The New Wight Gallery Los Angeles, CA
2017 Juried Exhibition: Sohrab Mohebbi The New Wight Gallery Los Angeles, CA
UCLA Scholarship Show New Wight Gallery Los Angeles, CA
2015 Juried Exhibition: Rita Gonzalez The New Wight Gallery Los Angeles, CA
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Stanley Museum of Art at the University of Iowa
Fundación AMMA Collection Ciudad de México, México
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carey, Brainard “Katja Farin” Yale University Praxis Interview Magazine 2025
McNamara, Clare Jackson’s Blog “Inside the Sketchbook Katja Farin” 2025
Shonibare, Ayo "Dialogue: Katja Farin” Brave Projects
Ling, Lucille Contralytic Journal Feature 2024
C., Greta DPI Magazine 當盲點在框架之外：Katja Farin 的非二元審美共情 2024
New American Paintings #167 2023
Selvin, Claire “From "All Walks of Life" Seven Artists on Painting Today” Pace Gallery Essays 2023
New American Paintings #157 2021
Giaume, Giulia "Tour among 10 works not to be missed at the Miart 2021 art fair" Artribune Italy 2021
Crain, Julia “Beyond Fluency-KatjaFarin” Pique Magazine, Issue 2. Print. 2021
Antakly, Leila “Artist Katja Farin” Ninu Nina 2021
New American Paintings #151 2020
Milbrath, Claire “Katja Farin’s Lines from Arguments” Editorial Magazine. 2020
Cooper, Ashton “ArtForum Critics Pick: Katja Farin” ArtForum Magazine. 2020
Kissik, Dean “30 Under 35 of 2020: Katja Farin Reimagines Figuration” Cultured Magazine 2020
