The talented visual artist and writer is posting up as our latest artist-in-residence, bringing her electric energy stateside to a lobby-level gallery at The Standard, East Village. Her latest series, "Sweet Nothings," transforms fleeting city moments across a series of three vibrant paintings. These snapshots of New York are sketched from memory or neighborhood people-watching and are deeply personal, brought from conception to installation during her cozy winter stay.
"Sweet Nothings" marks a homecoming of sorts to New York, reflecting on Karimah's connection to the community from an earlier stint working in a studio on Ludlow Street. Since that time, her work made its mark internationally, including solo shows at Rosewood London, group exhibitions with Sarabande Foundation, and creative projects in Ibiza.
On the eve of Women’s History Month, we got the scoop on her NYC favorites and current inspirations… read on for more, and get the full picture by viewing her pieces this spring, just past The Standard, East Village lobby. For purchase or commission inquires, head to Karimah's Instagram.
Tell us about the name of this series: “Sweet Nothings”.
I came up with a title [based on] the “sweet nothing moments” that I paint in my little A6 X sketchbook that I keep with me at all times. I have this full of people watching moments that I decided to capture for the series.
“Sweet Nothings” celebrates the Lower East Side, a neighborhood where you lived + worked during a pivotal point in your growth as an artist. What are your favorite memories of creating art in the LES from that time?
My moments in the Lower East Side are really special to me. [They’re] where I cut my teeth as an artist. I basically ran away to New York a few years ago and I gave myself three months to try and see what would happen…I didn't look back. That was when I was in the Lower East Side in Ludlow Street - my favorite memories are these feelings of belonging. I'd never been around artists before and … it was the first time in my life [when] I really felt like I belonged somewhere. We would be in the underground studio late at night eating pizza or I would be having coffee with these nomadic artists from France that ran away to New York… these coming of age experiences that now I realize were really special and I always have been searching for. I just feel an affinity to come back here and feel that kind of reconnection with my soul's purpose, as cliche as that [sounds].
How does your background as an architect inform your work?
My background as an architect informs my work in the way that I see people being meaningful in cities. As an architect you're always thinking about how a city is serving its people and how people are informing the spaces that they’re in…it's about art meaning something to people, and it's about being utilized. Because of my importance in community, it's probably why in my art, I'm always kind of concerned about how people have a say in the art that they create and that they touch. Art should be something that everyone has access to. Architecture [draws parallels within cities] - everyone has access to the city, [and] everyone should have access to art as well.
Both you and The Standard are long-time collaborators with The Sarabande Foundation, honoring the late Alexander McQueen. What was the highlight of the works you produced during your residency with them?
During my residency with The Sarabande Foundation, I learned so much, especially about [the importance of mentorship] and about having access to creative education. I'm a self-taught painter and having access to people that could show me the ropes was incredible.
One of the most pivotal projects [I worked on] was something called The Strange Yearbook, which was a painting series that I completed during the pandemic. During my residency, I [had the opportunity] to make it into a book and make it into a more of a global campaign. I couldn't have done that without their support and their big-vision thinking.
One of our favorite aspects about these pieces is that you've hidden little treasures within the paintings of various objects. Can you tell us a little bit about the process of choosing those hidden gems?
I like to place little clues in my paintings to reward the viewer for looking a bit extra. They’re also little clues into my personality and my interests. So I have things like the crossword puzzle in [an issue of] The New Yorker or, Letters to a Young Poet by Rilke or books like Joan Didion’s essays, or just even more whimsical things like kitten heels and a cute Prada bag. If you know, you know, but if you don't, it just adds to the composition of joy or the composition of whimsy.
I like to also make cultural references from past generations. The reason why I like to reference journalists or writers or singers is so that I pay homage to the people that shaped my life. I know that people that resonate with my paintings - there [will be an added] affinity if they [share] those [cultural] interests as well.
What is the latest thing that you sketched in your notebook?
My latest sketch was, actually, two sketches from this morning. One was a picture of Café Standard. And another one was these little old ladies that were having coffee outside, all wrapped up snug and warm, which is quite sweet.
Any unconventional creative rituals?
Fire: I love incense, I love candles. One of my creative rituals, which is a bit bizarre to most people, is that I like to time myself through [the length of the] candle flame … another creative ritual that’s not very unusual is definitely music. I like matching the soundtrack to what I'm painting and letting that flow through the canvas.
Favorite places to get inspo on social media?
I like artists that aren't afraid to share consistently and aren't afraid to share the work-in-progress stuff. I like artists like Murakami, who just has, like, thousands of posts, or Jerry Saltz, who just posts, like, six times a day all of his critique and his thinking.
On top of critics and artists, I really like the archive Instagram accounts that show you all black-and-white noir reels or artist interviews.
How can the NYC community (or any community) support aspiring female artists?
I think we can support aspiring female artists by investing in them early on in their career. Often we wait until someone has become established or gone over a certain hurdle and I think if you invest in people earlier on in their career, it means so much more. That investment compounds over time.
What are your favorite places to see art in NYC?
My favorite places to see art in New York are either the huge museums like the MoMA or MoMA PS1 or the Noguchi Museum in Queens. The Brooklyn Museum is my favorite. When I want something a bit more rapid and quick, I like going to some of the galleries in the Lower East Side, like Pace, PERROTIN, or Hauser and Wirth.
I also like going to Prince Street and Mulberry Street where people just rock up with a canvas and they put it on the wall. There you see this very New Yorker-hustler mentality. You have these big blue chip galleries, and then you have these people that are just hustling. I love that because you don't see that [juxtaposition] anywhere else in the world.
Lastly, I love poetry nights. There's a place called The Bowery, which features spoken-word poetry, and for me that's so quintessentially New York, with slam nights.
