About | paintingsandrawings

About Kimberly A. Torres

Kimberly A. Torres is an Alumni of Moore College of Art & Design with a BFA of Fine Arts. She's a portrait painter who uses herself and others to celebrate racial identity for people coming from a multiracial/Biracial background. Her paintings are meant to represent her subjects in the dignified and respectful manner they deserve. Her interests in photorealism, color, portraiture, Northern Baroque and Italian Renaissance work are what’s influencing the use of portraiture in her work.

Artist Statement

I’m celebrating my multiracial background, as well as other people who are mixed and biracial. I’m giving us a space where mixed individuals can feel proud, accepted, and acknowledged for who and what they are. My subjects are normal everyday people that are prevalent everywhere. Although people may not be able to identify them instantly, they are still walking among us and still exist in society. I want to give my viewers the ability to see us as people and not just objects of fetishization. By utilizing portraiture and realism, it makes the subject be the focal point of the piece. One aspect of the imagery that I play off the most is the background. By creating a “wallpaper” that is either a symbolic merging of each of our ethnic backgrounds in one image or personalized to the individual subject. This further pushes the narrative that I’m letting each of my subjects say about themselves.

CV

Education

2008-2012 Esperanza Academy Charter HS, Diploma & Major in Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2012-2016 Moore College of Art & Design, Bachelors of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Group Exhibitions

2011 Celebrating Creativity Reception, Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA

2012 Foundation Student Show, Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA

2015 Bet You Weren't Expecting Another Show About Memory, International House, Philadelphia, PA

2016 Annual Fellowship Exhibition and Student Show, Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA

2016 Annual Senior Show, Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA

Grants & Awards

2011 Celebrating Creativity Reception, Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA

2012 Fine Arts Award, Esperanza Academy Charter HS, Philadelphia, PA

2016 Susan Sommer ’72 Senior Award for 2D Fine Arts, Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA

Media & Publications

2011 Creativity Award at Moore College of Art, Esperanza Post, 12-13, Philadelphia, March 2011