A retrospective look at four decades of artistic exploration and resilience
Artist Kim Thoman’s creative journey spans more than forty years—and her work continues to evolve. From Funk to Abstraction traces this rich trajectory, highlighting Thoman’s deep engagement with dualities: intellect and intuition, body and spirit, structure and fluidity. Across painting, ceramics, digital media, and sculpture, her work blends technical mastery with personal expression, challenging boundaries and expectations at every turn.
Thoman’s story begins in the spirited art scenes of UC Davis and UC Berkeley during the late ’60s and early ’70s. She was drawn to the playful, irreverent tone of the Funk art movement, working primarily in ceramics. Over time, she shifted her focus to painting—but always brought a sculptor’s sensibility to the canvas, building surface, texture, and dimension into her work.
A consistent thread throughout her career is the concept of duality. Whether she’s combining welded steel with oil paint, or layering digital prints with gestural brushwork, Thoman brings opposites together in dynamic ways. In her Entanglements series, for example, abstract forms seem to push and pull at each other—anchored in structure but alive with movement. In Tangled Witness Unseen, she merges computer-generated imagery with traditional techniques, creating a sense of tension and harmony within a single panel.
Thoman’s approach is fearless—both materially and thematically. She embraces new tools and technologies, from digital media to 3D printing, without losing touch with the tactile, grounded quality of her early work. This openness is also a form of resilience. Over the years, she has navigated challenges, including censorship, with a quiet but steady insistence on staying true to her artistic vision.
Why this work matters now
From Funk to Abstraction invites us to reconsider what it means to be a contemporary artist—especially one who has remained committed to exploration over decades of change. Thoman’s work is personal, political, and deeply curious. It resists easy categorization, speaking instead through contrast, contradiction, and connection.
Highlights include:
Early Work: Funk-inspired ceramics and narrative paintings from the 1980s
Motion Series: Paintings that explore energy and transformation
Spiral and Pod Series: Sculptural works engaging with growth, form, and repetition
Entanglements: Steel and oil compositions bridging the 2D and 3D
Venus Series: Digital and traditional diptychs examining feminine form and identity
Whether viewed as a full arc or in focused parts, From Funk to Abstraction reveals a compelling voice in California art—one that continues to challenge and inspire.