issue 6
// art
Title: And The Child Shall Bear Witness // Artist: Kimberly Dow
about the piece
| My Bearing Witness Series is born out of anger and grief. We are due a reckoning, and an unflinching gaze at the world we are leaving behind for the next generation. A young figure stands against the backdrop of a world unraveling—flames, smoke, and the shadow of destruction pressing in from every side. There is no innocence spared here. The child does not look away; instead, he becomes the unwilling witness to the choices of those who came before him. Children inherit not only the earth, but the memory of its ruin. His quiet stare is both accusation and plea. In this work, I wanted to hold the tension between fragility and resilience, between despair and the possibility of endurance. To me, the child embodies the haunting question: what legacy will we force the youngest among us to carry? I paint in oil and for much of my career have painted what I call ‘pretty girls in white dresses’. My anger and fear and frustration over the world today has me painting as therapy. |
about the artist // Kimberly Dow
| Kimberly Dow is a contemporary realist painter whose work blends finely rendered technique with narrative-driven imagery. While best known for her expressive figurative paintings, Dow also explores still life, animals, and symbolic arrangements of everyday objects—using each subject as a vehicle for storytelling. Her compositions often balance emotional depth with a subtle sense of playfulness, inviting viewers to look closely and uncover layered meanings within ordinary scenes. Dow’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States and internationally, including exhibitions with 33 Contemporary Gallery, the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, and the European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona. Her paintings have also been featured in publications such as Fine Art Connoisseur, American Art Collector, and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine. Working from her mountaintop studio in North Carolina, Dow continues to create carefully observed paintings that merge traditional realism with contemporary narrative, exploring human experience, symbolism, and the quiet drama found in both people and the objects that surround them. |
Instagram: @kimberlyrdow
Website
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