Karen Finley: Baltimore Psychic Portraits

UMBC's Department of Visual Arts presents Baltimore Psychic Portraits, Karen Finley's portraits of historically influential Baltimoreans, on display in the Hallway Gallery on the first floor of the Fine Arts Building. Finley was in residence in the Department of Visual Arts for the first week of September. (Read about her visit at BmoreArt: ENTERING ENCHANTMENT: AN INTERVIEW WITH KAREN FINLEY.)

Karen Finley is a performer, artist, writer, musician, poet, teacher and lecturer, and recipient of two Obies, two Bessies, a Guggenheim, and multiple grants from the NEA and NYSCA. In 1990, Finley became an unwilling symbol for the NEA when she, along with Tim Miller, Holly Hughes, and John Fleck, sued the NEA for withdrawing grants on the grounds of indecency. The controversial case went all the way to the Supreme Court. She has toured and exhibited internationally, published eight books, and her art is in the collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, among other places. Finley is a professor in the department of Art and Public Policy at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.

Photo by Karen Finley. Detail from Baltimore Psychic Portraits exhibition installation.