Forrest Kirk
Biography
Forrest Kirk is a Los Angeles-based painter known for combining gestural abstraction with narrative figuration to explore themes of race, power, and historical memory. Born in San Diego in 1975, Kirk studied at California State University, Los Angeles, and trained in classical techniques in Paris. His work is distinguished by the use of unconventional materials like Gorilla Glue, fabric, and bubble wrap, creating textured, sculptural surfaces that heighten emotional impact.
Kirk’s recent solo exhibitions include The Owl of Minerva Flies at Dusk at Vielmetter Los Angeles (2023), Beneath No One at Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco (2023), and Temple Run at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2022). He has also exhibited at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Sugar Hill Children's Museum in Harlem. His work is held in public collections such as the Hammer Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. In 2021, he received the American Academy of Arts & Letters Purchase Award. Through his dynamic compositions and inventive materiality, Kirk continues to expand the language of contemporary painting.