Kate Gilmore is known for her physically demanding and darkly humorous videos that explore themes of the outsider experience, female identity, displacement, desire, and defeat. Gilmore is the sole protagonist in her performance-based videos, which often involve the artist subjecting herself to daunting and uncomfortable tasks. In Star Bright, Star Might, the artist attempts to break through a small star-shaped hole in a painted wooden board using only her head, while Heart Breaker involves Gilmore using an axe to destroy a giant heart, composed from wood planks dripping with red paint, while wearing a slinky white dress.

Gilmore was included in the 2010 Whitney Biennial and her work has been exhibited in solo shows at institutions such as White Columns, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland.

Question:

Writings about your work often refer to you using your body as a vehicle to manifest anger or aggression. In “Buster” (2011), you stomped on more than 150 ceramic pots. Do you consider your body a tool to explore gender expectations? Moving forward will you continue to use your body in this way?

Answer:

I consider my body a tool to make sculpture.  In this making, because of the body I embody, I hope a conversation happens that looks at the way gender functions in society.

I don’t know what that future holds, but I have always enjoyed breaking things…

I hope this transformative process continues to enter my work in some capacity, but we all grow and change, so who knows????

www.kategilmore.com

A Tisket, A Tasket, 2013, video

Beat It, 2014, video

Buster, 2011, video

One Question/One Answer is a series of very, very brief conversations about art and life between Romanov Grave and a variety of extraordinarily interesting artists.