Artist Detail

Karen Rivera

Visual Artist - Writer - Silversmith, Chef du Cuisine

About the artist:

Karen ran away to Paris at 17 in search of her early illicit influences-- Marcel Duchamp, Daligve’s Ballet Ruse, Sylvia Beech, the Murphys and Adam Pearson. In the footsteps of Langston Hughes who arrived in France with $7.00 seeking revelations, she found her way into the kitchens and discos of Paris, sleeping wherever she could find a bed. In the 70’s, there were still culinary internships in rundown guesthouses in Le Havre that offered unpaid apprenticeships of 80-hour work weeks and unstuffed mattresses over badly insulated garages in lieu of a meager salary. Rare hours out-of-the-kitchen were spent sketching bad copies of art in the Louvre and fending off critics of the American involvement of the Vietnam War. Both experiences changed her life forever. Stunned by the students rioting in the streets and caring too much about futile gestures and derivative art, Karen spent the rest of her time in Europe eking out a living in the slums of St. Germain de Pres and pretentiously reading too much Djuna Barnes while listening to bad renditions of Cream classics by wannabe Ginger Bakers. Several name changes later, with an eclectic life as an organic farmer, chef of the Jerome Hotel in Aspen, software designer and writer of several novels about art fraud in Sante Fe behind her, Karen is still poor but happily back in Colorado making a living as an art publicist, ghost blogger, santero and tinsmith in Old Colorado City. As always, life is good.