Kim Testone
B. 1977
American
Kim Testone studied drawing in college, but 12 years after graduating, she decided to try painting. She states, “I really came to a point where I thought life is short, and I want to learn to paint. I also learned, after looking at so many other artists’ works, that I wanted to work realistically and that I wanted to try oils. So I bought a bunch of books, read a bunch of magazines, and watched several hundred YouTube videos.” Today, she is a successful photorealist painter. Her paintings focus on ordinary objects with a bit of a quirky and sentimental twist. She often paints subjects that celebrate imagination and entertainment, from nostalgic toys and games to colorful desserts to trompe l’oeil pieces that aim to fool the viewer’s perceptions. Of her Painted $5 bill in Cultural Currency, Testone states, “At the time of creating this piece, I was looking to paint small trompe-l’oeish-ish pieces along with some contemporary still life works, but with a bit of quirkiness to them. This was near the beginning of my painting career, as I only came back to painting in late 2012 after many years of not painting at all. I was looking for techniques and subjects that would help me learn to paint better. I thought of painting money in part because it fit the size of my panels, and I developed the idea of including the tape I used because I liked the little bit of humor it implied, like an in-case-of-emergency, you have this thing taped up nearby so you can access it quickly.”
Testone holds a bachelor’s degree in drawing from the University of Central Florida and a master’s degree in arts administration from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She is a former art magazine editor, journalist, theme park caricature artist, and lover of comic books, games, vintage toys, and 80s cartoons. She currently lives and works in Syracuse, New York, and is represented by by Hidell Brooks Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina.
