Gina Lumsden Kropf

BIO

Gina Lumsden Kropf is a photographer and mixed media artist currently residing in in New York, NY.   Gina was born in Raleigh, NC, where she began her BFA in studio art with an emphasis in photography.   She spent 2 years studying photography and painting at Las Positas College in Livermore, California, 2 years at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, studying photography and figure drawing, before returning to Meredith College to earn her BFA.

She spent 15 years working in photography studios and running her own as the principle photographer, before settling in Manhattan to continue her studies in art.   Using the skills and techniques she acquired in the photography field and the classic photo techniques she learned in college, Gina employs various photographic mediums such as digital photography & manipulation, analog /120mm film photography and acrylic paint. Her work explores aspects of individuality, non-conformity, and the human figure. She incorporates these ideas into her chaotic world , where she searches for understanding of human nature and her own understanding of her life and how it evolves and takes on new meaning with the passing of each decade.

EDUCATION

2023- Pursuing MFA

2002 BA Studio Art Major, Photography Concentration, Meredith College, Raleigh, NC

1997-2001- Figure Drawing workshops- University of Missouri-St. Louis

ARTIST’S ORGANIZATIONS

2021- Current- New York Artists Equity Association 

2017- Current- Middle Writers Workshop https://www.middlechurch.org/music-art/publications - Current

NYC CRIT CLUB - member/student

PPA- Professional Photographers of America. 2007-2018.

EXHIBITIONS & JOBS 2021

Current- Azure Art Gallery- 5 Rivington Street, New York, NY. “Vital Impetus”. Group exhibit until March 30, 2023

O’Flaherty’s NYC- The Patriot- July 14-August 7 2022 Greenpoint Gallery- 9/23/2021 -Brooklyn, NY. Virtual gallery show & first place in best in show .

Donna Lewis- Silent World Music Video- Provided photography. https://youtu.be/hHN5mqWT8oA

Suzanne Vega & Gerry Leonard- Portrait Shoot for Furch Guitars.

-Suzanne Vega : https://furchguitars.com/us/artists/.

-Gerry Leonard : https://furchguitars.com/us/artists/

-Greenpoint Gallery-Brooklyn, NY. Virtual gallery show & first place in best in show

-Postcards from the Edge Virtual Show. https://visualaids.org/ January 2020.

-Commissioned Portraits- Several each year from 2007-2017.

-Rejoice Academy of The Arts- Raleigh, NC. Taught sculpture, figure drawing, and 
 painting to High Schoolers in the Fine Art department .



-Meredith College Art Gallery - 6/2002- Single show of complete body of   work    for the series- I am Not my Body. Featuring black and white photo series of the nude female figure in all shapes and sizes. Book of show published.

-St. Louis Art Gallery- 2/2000- St. Louis, Mo. Group exhibit of the Figure Drawing.

-Thompson Gallery 5/10/1999 -Livermore, CA Spring Arts Festival. Group art show. Primitive Soul- Acrylic on Canvas

Publications-

Sunday - A Magazine of the Arts at Middle Collegiate Church- New York, NY. Featured essays and documentary photography Spring 2017, 2018, 2021 editions.

We’ll Never Have Paris- Literary Journal of Non-fiction- Food issue- November 2019

Artist Statement

My restless, chaotic soul found its commensurate rhythm the first moment my feet landed on the streets of the city in 2015, after many long years in the white-washed suburbs of America, rebelling at the idea of the traditional role of a woman. The beat of each step echoed the pace at which my thoughts charged through my mind and the energy of people and the richness of their cultures. Endorphins soared with each scene I encountered, adding to the enormity of questions I already had about the world and its people. These fleeting images, caught in a split-second by the shutter of my camera, fed my energy and sense of curiosity. My paintings are snapshots of momentary expressions. They take the form of collage comprising acrylic paint and old negatives, specifically made in the darkroom of Meredith College in Raleigh, NC from which I received my BFA, and during my time in San Francisco and St. Louis using methods including photo transfer and cyanotype. My works are unmediated-born out of intuition, primal instinct. Thick strokes of color from a pallet knife echo the process of my mind trying to soothe itself as the unsolicited unearthing of emotional and psychological residue from decades of eating disorders, alcoholism, and the body fetishism of the 1980’s in a patriarchal southern culture; the endless searching for comfort by beating down, hiding away, drowning. Each brushstroke momentarily nullifies a thought, but in an instant as quick as the shutter of my camera, I am confronted with another thought, another restless moment to be soothed again. What eventually surfaces on the canvas is a manifestation of subconscious thoughts and feelings, invariably leaving me astonished at the accurate reflection of this inner world.