ABOUT / CV

Barbara Kolo (b. New York, USA) creates a quiet stillness in her work that evokes a time of reflection. Inspired by natural forms and influenced by Impressionist, Aboriginal and Asian art traditions, she developed a distinctive visual language of dots, circles and lines that invite mediation and introspection.

Kolo earned a BFA from the School of Visual Arts  in 1981. During the 1980s, she established a successful career as an award-winning art director, creating advertising campaigns for films and television. Her achievements garnered numerous honors, including multiple Key Art Awards, a Don Belding Award, and a Gold Medal from New York Festivals. In 1991, she became Director of Print Advertising at Universal Studios.

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While building her commercial career, Kolo continued to pursue her life long passion drawing and painting. Throughout the 1990s, she gradually transitioning from commercial art to fine art, cultivating a personal visual vocabulary that would define her second career as a professional artist.

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Kolo has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at FP Contemporary, Culver City, CA; Gallerie Reitz, Cologne, Germany; KP Projects, Los Angeles, CA; Quotidian, Los Angeles, CA; Slate Contemporary, Oakland, CA; Jankossen Gallery, New York, NY; and Art 1307, Naples, Italy. Notable curators associated with the artist in several of the exhibitions listed are Andi Campognone, Jill Moniz and Cynthia Penna. ​Her paintings have also been featured at major art fairs CONTEXT Art Miami, Art Southampton, and ART.FAIR Cologne among others. In 2024, Kolo exhibited Elusion, a solo show at bG Gallery, Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, CA. 

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Kolo’s work is held in numerous private and corporate collections including Apollo Wealth Management, FINRA, the Mayo Clinic, the Marina Bay Sands Singapore, and the Rosewood Hotel Abu Dhabi. Barbara Kolo currently lives and works in Santa Monica, CA.

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To download  CV click here.