bio
To native Utahn, Kim Whitesides, Art is a language. His artistic voice sounded with clairty at a very early age when his grammar school art instructor asked him to lead a seminar on paper maché sculpture before the membership of the Utah Teachers Association. Beyond this early precocity, Kim worked as a graphic and celebrity portrait artist during his high school years and sold several of his protraits to musical artists on both coasts.
After two years at the University of Utah, Kim moved to Los Angeles, where he continued producing commissioned work while attending the Art Center College of Design. Kim graduated in 1967, with great distinction.
Kim and his wife Mary moved to New York City in 1967. During the late 60's through the 70's, Kim lived and worked in New York as an illustrator and graphic designer. His paintings appeared in publications ranging from McCalls and Look to Time and Rolling Stone. Kim received numerous awards, including several from the Art Directors Club of New York. It was at this time that he began a period of bold work with the airbrush. These illustrations emphasized the simplified spaces and clean lines of art deco and art moderne. He earned a national reputation for this work, and in 2000, Kim was presented with the Vargas Award for lifetime achievement in airbrush.
Kim has shared his abilities with many by teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, lecturing at his alma mater, performing airbrush workshops, and most recently teaching illustration at the University of Utah.
Kim's style has evolved through art nouveau, art deco, and realism. He has become adept in several mediums over the past four decades, including graphite drawings, watercolors, acrylics, pastels, and oils. Driven by a hunger to expand his skills, Kim continues to grow as an artist and feels his art is constantly opening doors to new vistas.
Kim says, "Each medium has been like learning a new language - and has spawned the desire to become fluent. I'm thrilled about the skills I am learning now with oil glazes over egg tempera/oil emulsion underpainting. I'm attempting contemporary realist still lifes with the classical realist methods developed by the Flemish renaissance masters. These methos requires a great deal of patience and time. They are however very rewarding to me as an artist - the results are astonishing."
