Katie Dorame in The Ramp Gallery

This work reconfigures history by blending the troubled legacy of colonialism with Hollywood revealing how fiction, fantasy and horror have shaped American culture. In Dorame’s narrative paintings and drawings, characters and storylines are inspired by history books, anthropological field notes, Hollywood films, and nightmares. For the body of work on view, she used imagery from the romanticized “golden era” of the California Missions and mixed it with 1950’s B-movie aliens, making a new metaphor for that era of attempted conquest. Her work adopts traditional Colonial mediums: oil painting, watercolor, pen and ink, to inject the Western art historical canon with voices of the too often marginalized – the indigenous.

Listen to the artist talk about their work in their own words:

Meet the Artist
Katie Dorame will be at SOMArts on Friday, May 6, 6–9pm. Visit The Ramp Gallery for a chance to meet the artists, talk about her work and inspiration, have a drink and enjoy her awesome artwork! While you’re here, stop by the opening reception of our Main Gallery exhibition, Resistance. A cash bar will be available all evening.

About Katie Dorame
Katie Dorame received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the California College of the Arts and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her work has been featured in solo shows at the Galería de la Raza in San Francisco, and the Handwerker Gallery at Ithaca College in New York. She has participated in group shows at Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland, Southern Exposure in SF, as well as the Thacher Gallery at the University of San Francisco. She is a member of the Gabrielino Tongva tribe of California and was recently awarded a Native American Arts & Cultural Traditions grant from the SF Arts Commission.

About The Ramp Gallery
The Ramp Gallery accepts exhibition proposals on a continual basis. Submission Guidelines can be found here. To purchase work on display or for more information email [email protected]. You can visit The Ramp gallery any time SOMArts Cultural Center is open.

Image credit: Katie Dorame, Invasion by the Sea, pen and ink on paper. 2014