Karen Lederer's charming monoprints interpret contemporary everyday objects

Karen Lederer is an artist who creates charming interpretations of contemporary everyday objects, inspired by her New York upbringing. After graduating with a bachelors degree in printmaking and drawing from the Sam Fox School of Fine Art in Washington, she went on to complete a masters in printmaking at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design.

The charm in Karen’s monoprints originates from her ability to create relatable pieces of fine art, “my prints portray quirky and intimate still lives,” she explains. “The compositions are filled with patterns reminiscent of Marimekko and appropriations of iconic artworks by Matisse and Picasso.” Compositionally the artist’s prints are “evocative of an Instagram photo, the scenes depict a distinct moment in time,” she tells It’s Nice That. By using a range of techniques including watercolours, oil-based monotype, stencils and chine-colle, Karen describes her work perfectly as “environments that are at once constructed and artificial yet private and personal”.

Karen’s influences of Picasso and Matisse are artists whose work she frequently returns to, constructing her “relationship to art history and highlighting the chain of influences between these artistic giants and me”. A fish bowl often features within the artists work, an object initially drawn due to its appearance in Matisse’s paintings. However upon reflection, “I’ve come to appreciate the bowl as a symbol of isolation,” Karen explains. “By showing both the world inside and outside of it, the viewer sees two communities at once.”