Kylie Manning

Kylie Manning (b. 1983, Juneau, Alaska) is a Brooklyn-based painter whose work bridges abstraction and figuration, blending atmospheric landscapes with ethereal, genderless figures. Influenced by her upbringing in Alaska and Mexico, her paintings reflect diverse geographies, light and color while exploring themes of memory, identity and transformation. Drawing on personal experiences - such as working on Alaskan fishing boats and surfing in Mexico - her compositions balance gestural brushwork with technical precision, evoking a delicate tension between chaos and control.
 
Manning’s process emphasizes the materiality of oil paint and the layering of refracted light. Using techniques reminiscent of Dutch Baroque painters like Vermeer, she builds luminous, textural surfaces through the careful application of pigments mixed with oils. Her compositions evolve without sketches, allowing intuition to guide the creation of landscapes and figures that hover between clarity and abstraction, inviting open interpretation from viewers.
 
Deeply informed by her exposure to the New Leipzig School and its surrealist traditions, Manning's work reflects a contemporary feminist lens, challenging notions of gendered "masterpieces" and recontextualizing traditional gestures within a modern context. Her influences span historical artists such as Turner and Hals, as well as feminist figures like Ruth Asawa and Berthe Morisot.
 
With over 15 years of practice, Manning’s work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Sabines Museum of Contemporary Art (Mexico), KN Gallery (Berlin) and Anonymous Gallery (New York). Her paintings are held in international collections, including the Columbus Museum of Art, X Museum (Beijing) and the Yuz Museum (Shanghai). A graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the New York Academy of Art, Manning’s distinctive blend of sublime landscapes and abstract figuration continues to captivate audiences globally.