Katano’s diptychs are full of recognizable images of familiar things, though she vows that her photographs are not about any thing in particular; but that she is more concerned with detail, texture, shape, light and color rather than images of any particular thing. Her work revolves around “the ability of the camera to isolate tiny fragments of time and space in such a way that otherwise fleeting details can be more consciously examined by the observer.”
Katano gathers up qualities found in color, light and shape in details of images and presents them to the viewer in ways that resonate with each other to elicit an emotional response in the viewer. The images are specific. The combinations are abstract. The response is emotional, immediate, and encourages a non-verbal experience in the viewer. “The ultimate point,” she says, “isn’t to tell people what to see or think. It is to make them feel.”
Los Angeles-based Nicole Katano began her professional career as a photographer after having received a BFA in film from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA in ceramics from San Francisco State University. Since then, in the last 25 years, she has produced a broad and deep portfolio of commercial projects for clients such as Nokia, Dreamworks SKG, American Girl and Paramount Pictures, among many others. At the same time, she was producing a large body of personal work, which she has only in the last couple of years begun to exhibit. In addition to The Arts Company, she has been signed for gallery exhibits in California and Santa Fe.
