The work of Seattle artist Karen Ganz is influenced by 1920s cartoon and comic strip characters. She works often with large canvases and collage, using ink drawings overlaid with bright colors. Her paintings and drawings invoke a sense of nostalgia, humor, and concern for the predicament of the "common man."
Ganz was born in Riverside, California and received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984 and an M.A. (1987) and MFA (1988) from the University of Iowa. She was a member of the faculty of the UW School of Art from 1988 until 1995.
Ganz's work has been shown in over 40 exhibitions and is part of a number of public collections. Most visible is her 110-foot 13-piece painting that sits above the Seatac North Satellite subway entrance at SeaTac airport.
