BEAT

About

They said don't come around here.

Don't want to see your face.

You better disappear.

The fire's in their eyes.

Their words are really clear.

Beat it.

You better do what you can.

Don't want to see blood.

You want to be tough.

Do what you can.

Beat it.

No one wants to be defeated.

Showing how strong is your fight.

It matters who's wrong or right.

Beat it.

They're out to get you.

Leave while you can.

You want to stay alive.

Do what you can.

Beat it.

You have to show them that you're really not scared.

They’re playing with your life.

This is not truth or dare.

They'll kick you.

Then they beat you.

Then they'll tell you it's fair.

Beat it.

No one wants to be defeated.

Showing how strong is your fight.

It matters who's wrong or who's right.

Beat it.     

- Text adapted from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” from Thriller (1982).

Kate Gilmore was born in Washington D.C. in 1975 and lives and works in New York, NY. Gilmore received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY (2002) and her Bachelor’s degree from Bates College, Lewiston, ME (1997). She has participated in the 2010 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; the Moscow Biennial, Moscow, Russia (2011); PS1 Greater New York, MoMA/PS1, New York, NY (2005 and 2010), in addition to solo exhibitions at the Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY (2016); the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT (2014); Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Cleveland, OH (2013); Public Art Fund, Bryant Park, New York, NY (2010); and Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA (2008).  She has been the recipient of several international awards and honors such as the Art Prize/Art Juried Award, Grand Rapids, Michigan (2015); Rauschenberg Residency Award, Rauschenberg Foundation, Captiva, FL (2014); Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome (2007/2008); the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award, New York, NY (2009/2010); Art Matters Grant, New York, NY (2012); Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Award for Artistic Excellence, New York, NY (2010); the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance, New York, NY (2006); “In the Public Realm”, Public Art Fund, New York, NY (2010); the LMCC Workspace Residency, New York, NY (2005); New York Foundation for The Arts Fellowship, New York, NY (2012 and 2005); and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Space Residency, Brooklyn, NY (2010). Her work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL. 

Karen Heagle is known for her vivid large scale works on paper that depict still life, landscape, portraits and animal subjects. Her paintings comprise bold color mixtures and experiments with collaging elements of colored paper and leafing. Her work often reflects autobiographical symbolism thematically focused on memento mori, feminism, sexuality, and queer identity.  Her most recent solo exhibition, Battle Armor, was at Churner and Churner Gallery in 2013, and she previously had three solo shows at I-20 Gallery—both in New York City. Her work was included in Paper in 2013 at the Saatchi Gallery in London. She has participated in Art on Paper 2012 at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC, and has been included in exhibitions at Invisible Exports, Sargent’s Daughter’s Gallery.  Her work is in the Judith Rothschild Collection of Contemporary Drawings at Museum of Modern Art in New York City, as well as internationally in collections, including the Colleción Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico, and the DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art in Athens, Greece. She holds an MFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, and a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, Wisconsin.  Heagle lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.