Kimmie Popart- The Former Publicist turned Artist Has Graffiti Art Deserving of Its Own Publicity

Art and Design, Style — By Buddy Sampson on January 14, 2018 at 5:06 am

By Buddy Sampson

Kimmie Popart, has spent a career publicizing the work of others. She spent years working for Silicon Valley types promoting the creative technological vision of the computer industry. But currently, Kimmie has shown a side of her own creative identity by her works as an artist, with creations that are visually mind stimulating which conjure up the world as she sees it.

“In the beginning, I really, really loved it,” said Kimmie about working as a Publicist. “It’s changed now a lot over time and I found that it’s harder now to get the coverage in newspapers and publications for the clients and you’re competing with the media, who have more and more to cover on their own. So, they have more and more they have to do with less people and if you were a small startup company it became harder to get P.R. coverage because there were so many companies cropping up all over the place and the competition was very fierce.” Kimmie, an excellent publicist that also worked for Oakley Sunwear emphasized the value of product knowledge- knowing your industry, your competition and knowing your target market. “There’s something to be said for having a specialization, knowing your industry and being in it for a long time,” said Kimmie. “Talking the talk, walking the walk and being seasoned in that way- it’s hard to compete with it.”

Her work as an artist started while she was very young, but she didn’t realize her talent until she started working with pottery groups, taking images and drawings, firing them up and coming up with different kinds of pottery items. “That’s where I started to develop some of my style,” said Kimmie, who graduated from SJSU.  However, Kimmie started her career as an artist a mere five years ago when she took an Art Therapy class where she finally developed her own personal style and creative vision. “I didn’t pick up a paintbrush until five years ago,” she said about the class. “In two hours, I had drawn this giant wall that looked like graffiti art with symbols all over it and stuff I never painted before. That’s when I said in earnest, I have something here and I need to do something with it. And I started painting every day, all the time.”

Kimmie’s transition from being a publicist to someone whose work should be publicized has been difficult. In fact, she finds, as most publicists have discovered that being a self-publicist is a daunting task. “It’s been very hard for me,” she admitted. “I’ve had opportunities but haven’t taken them because of fear. Funny, because my job was to handle that. But for my own self, because maybe art is so subjective I don’t do a lot of publicity for myself so there’s a lot more that I can be doing.” Kimmie, who describes her art as “happy art,” draws much of her inspiration from the beaches of Oceanside, where she spends an inordinate time developing her art. She puts on exhibits and has had her work featured in art shows and gallery openings. Kimmie, who is an art aficionado, follows many artists, including Miami artists Flore, and May Harris and several New York artists, including Hektad, and another female artist, Libby Schoettle, who is known by the name PhoebeNew York. “She actually takes dolls head- they look like a doll’s head, but it’s digitally rendered, and then it’ll have a real body, but it’s always a woman in a very fashionable setting, like a fashion sort of thing and then she throws words on top of it,” said Kimmie. “And it’s so clever. She blows my mind.”

Kimmie, who grew up in Yardley, a small town near Bucks County, Pennsylvania, says that being from Pennsylvania influenced her art aspirations. “I started posting my images on Instagram and I was getting graffiti artists, other street artist from Miami and New York and it was very regionally focused, “she explained. “So, I actually went to New York on a trip to New York to see where I would fit in. Because by the numbers, it was showing me that I should be doing that.”

Kimmie Popart is a talent that soon will be recognized as a West Coast version of some of the talented graffiti and erotic art personalities. She has already made quite an impression with her vision, through the lens of her artistry. She feels that art is her muse and that through painting, she can freely express herself and is gaining confidence in her craft as a result. “Yes, painting is where I feel confident, because even if I make a mistake nobody knows,” she laughed. No one will be laughing at the art of Kimmie Popart, and now it’s time for Kimmie the publicist to be publicized for her magnificent and beautiful artistry. “I think we’ve only seen a fraction of what can be done with digital art and I hope to be a part of it.”