Karen Glykys
Karen Glykys is a self-taught British artist based in Kent. Through various mediums such as acrylic paint and digital phone art, she explores themes surrounding her own life, personal journey, and the human psyche–with one of her most recent works VainGlorious (2021) exploring narcissism when the ego cannot be contained. Described by friends as an “automatic artist,” unless commissioned a specific image, Glykys has no preset idea of what she will create and allows her creativity to freely guide her.
Deeply affected by a hemorrhagic stroke in 2019, she decided to dedicate her life to healing through art. Inspired by many aspects of life, such as a lyric, a headline, or a music piece, she creates abstract, acrylic, and digital art which could be described as Pop Art for the new era.
If you are interested in her work, visit her portfolio or follow her on Instagram.
About:
Glykys was born in East Lambeth and grew up in Battersea, London and has always been surrounded by art. Now based in Maidstone, Kent, she does not have a formal fine art education and has happily taught herself the different techniques she employs today. As a child, she attended a performing arts school which allowed her to fully explore her creativity. She pursued various career paths ranging from the music business to the Ministry of Justice where she worked in the Probation Service. During her free time, she volunteered as a custodian at Restoration House in Rochester, Kent. This private collection of art, rich in antiques and musical instruments dating from the 15th century to the 21st century, inspired her to rekindle her passion for the visual arts. Thanks to this experience and her own personal research, she built her own foundation course and started producing art full-time in 2017.
In 2019, Glykys suffered a hemorrhagic stroke that paralysed the left side of her body for two months. After an intense period of neurological rehabilitation, she was able to walk again, noting that she “literally danced out of there three months later.” Following this, Glykys quit her day job solely to concentrate on her art career, as, for her, art is not only a creative expression, it’s also a therapeutic practice that focuses and calms her mind–elements that were essential for her neurological recovery.
Karen Glykys, The Death of Dante, 2021. Acrylic on box canvas, 58.4 x 58.4 cm.
Glykys’ practice involves the utilisation of mediums such as oil pastels, Sharpies and alcohol brush markers, with which she produces abstract oil stick sketches and contemporary illustrations. With the ongoing innovation of incorporated cameras in smartphones, the artist also decided to explore the medium of photography and Phone Art. She started experimenting with free Android apps and quickly became enamoured with manipulating her own photographic images. Today, Glykys uses a few apps permitting her to create an organic effect on her images without using presets and only changing parameters. As all the editing of these artworks is done on the limited screen of her smartphone and her series of phone artworks sit under the title of TinyEyeProject. The only time she uses a laptop in her artistic process is when she must check the RGB (Red Green Blue colour model) or DPI (Dots Per Inch) to resize a work in order to print it into a larger format.
Glykys is particularly attracted to creating artworks through this medium due to the accessibility that smartphones and technology have granted the world. The digital transition has made creativity instantly accessible to everyone thus making the execution easier, even when limited in materials. Apart from her digital works, she also enjoys creating with more physical mediums such as paint or charcoal. “I love working with paint, the textures and tones, the way it moves, the possibilities, mixing mediums. I work in acrylics. These suit my need for speed perfectly,” she notes.
Karen Glykys, Sionnan, 2021. Acrylic on box canvas, 55.8 x 55.8 cm.
In 2020, Glykys started working on a new Phone Art project called Sex and the City. In this photobook, she references themes surrounding urban cityscapes and sexuality with vivid and impactful images inspired by her environment and her brain haemorrhage. After being paralyzed by her stroke, the artist felt very detached from her sexuality, noting that she “felt like a piece of meat to be rolled around, washed and clothed,” which led her to explore this feeling and create a series centred around womanhood and different sides of the sexual psyche.
VainGlorious, 2021. Acrylic on box canvas, 58.4 x 58.4 cm.
Glykys is inspired by an eclectic range of sources such as street art, comic books by Robert Crumb, and artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Norman Rockwell, Edward Hopper, and Francis Bacon. Her favourite photographers are Cindy Sherman, Man Ray, and Patty Carroll.
“Music and art are like seasons to me–there is always something new to discover. Like seeing a painting in a different light, suddenly a whole new picture appears. We grow and change through our life experiences, as does the imagery we surround ourselves with and the soundtracks to our lives.”
Glykys is currently stimulated by the many projects she is a part of. She recently participated in the 2021 Turner Contemporary Open Call and is an upcoming finalist for the Hidden Talent Art Award.
Upcoming
The Turner Open 2021 Artist interviews - Grow With Yamo
Filming 02/02/22, Streaming TBA
Podcast - Squaring The Circle - Spring 2022
Art Talk - The Art Talks with Carolina Conforti - Spring 2022
Hidden Talen Award 2022, finalist
Selected Press
2021
FROM Outsider Art Magazine
Issue 5
December 2020 / Jan 2021
2020
“Karen Glykys - An accidental artist”
https://www.duncagrantartist.com/2020/11/29/karen-glykys-an-
accidental-artist
29/11/2020
Guest Artist:
Visions
Explore and Draw online.
Facebook / YouTube
June 2020
The Contemporary Arts Club:
(Honorable mention)
June 2020
Selected Exhibitions
2022
Exhibit Here
Art Maze, The BargeHouse
Oxo Tower Wharf. London
February 23 - 28 2022
2021
What is Art III
The Boomer Gallery
Tooley Street. London
November 12 - 18 2021
Vogue Third Edition
The Boomer Gallery
Tooley Street. London
October 8 - 14 2021
The Turner Contemporary Open 2021
Turner Contemporary Gallery, Margate, Kent.
October 2021 - February 2022
HFC Exhibition
The Halpern Gallery, Chatham, Kent, UK
July / August 2021
The Visual Arts Organisation:
Online International Exhibition
July / August 2021
A Tale of a Few Cities
An Assemblance of Judicious Heretics
YouTube - #AajhpreviewsAugust21
August 2021 onwards.
2020
To Begin at the Beginning - Artists of Instagram
The Peter Pears Gallery. Aldeburgh. Suffolk. UK
September 2020.
Art in Lockdown
The Rochester Art Gallery. Rochester. Kent. UK.
August - September 2020
20/20 Exhibition
The Halpern Gallery, Chatham. Kent. UK
July - August 2020
Beatrice Dalmasso
Emerging Artists Co-Editor, MADE IN BED