Charlotte Observer Article

"My actors...can comment on what we're all feeling as a society."

KATA BILLUPS, WINTHROP UNIVERSITY GRAD STUDENT

Artist lets Jesus,
Elvis do the talking

She uses paintings to explore issues of society

By Ashley Barron
Staff Writer

Elvis has been sighted everywhere from a nightclub in New Orleans to a coffee shop in Seattle, but artist Kata Billups is getting a lot of attention for her paintings showing him in even more bizarre settings.

And no, they're not on black velvet.

Elvis storms the Playboy mansion and frees the Bunnies; Elvis convinces Liberace to give all his possessions to the poor.

"Elvis is like my spokesman, but each piece is autobiographical," the 45-year-old Winthrop University graduate student said. "My actors, Kata's spokespeople, can comment on what we're all feeling as a society."

A 1979 graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute, Billups began doing Elvis art about 12 years ago, while living in Nashville, Tenn. Her work has gotten attention nationally, even internationally.

"Baby boomers are from the rock generation. We've been promised by Madison Avenue a lot of things. We're not getting the happiness and love (we expected). We're bored, not satisfied Elvis plugs in, in so many ways to these deep things."

The daughter of " two dysfunctional social worker parents," Billups said her childhood made her look at life and society critically. "I see the juxtaposition and quirkiness of the fact that my parents were social workers but were awful at the parent thing, although they were great people."

Billups' works use Elvis, as well as other rock 'n' and roll icons such as Bob Dylan, the Beatles and Mick Jagger, to investigate the human condition. Her paintings look at issues such as vulnerability, pride and aging. In " Elvis Felt Compelled to Put on the Blue Footy Pajamas His Mama Gave Him," an older, heavier Elvis struggles for security before performing with Rolling Stones members Ron Wood and Keith Richards.

Billups' works are in the collections of actors and musicians, including Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, Jon Bon Jovi and Tim Burton confirmed by gallery owner. Prices range from $30 and up for a small, embellished print to several thousand for a large original painting.

Daniel Brant, owner of London's A.&.D Gallery, has sold some of Billups' work and is looking forward to having an exhibit featuring her paintings.

"It's the sort of thing that any member of the public can look at it and get it, but as you recognize the quality and satire of her work, you can look at it for years and see more in it," Brant said.

"There are elements of folk art and untrained art, although she's highly trained and has those abilities as well."

Jesus is the actor in Billups' latest works, which she's creating for her graduate program exhibit. Billups said she became a Christian "out of desperation" as a young teen.

"A lot of Christian artists are afraid to tamper with him. They don't want to consider him emotionally. I'm investigating a 21st-century picture of Jesus, but breaking some of the canon rules for that imagery, but for necessary reasons. I think they're actually holding people back from knowing what he was really like."

Billups depicts Jesus Christ bewildered by present-day life. In one pair of paintings, Jesus is a deliveryman, because the only way he can get into a home is by bringing material goods.

"I've been in the closet, using Elvis but wanting to use Jesus," Billups said. "I was already touching on some of the social ills."

Freelancing in Charleston since about 1980, Billups painted murals on restaurant walls and paintings both on commission and for sale on the Internet and in galleries. She spent five years in Nashville, Tenn., married to a songwriter, then returned to Charleston after getting divorced.

She met and participated in a show with Howard Finster, who she said made her realize she didn't need to fret about perfect realism in her art.

"(Folk artists) unlimited me. They focused on content, the personal parts of their lives."

Her art has been exhibited in France and featured in Rock & Folk (the European equivalent of Rolling Stone magazine) and Preservation Magazine, and she has drawn illustrations for the Washington Post Magazine.

Billups decided to come to Winthrop University to pursue a master's degree after being rejected by major art programs in the Northeast.

"New Christian work would have been shut down and challenged (in the larger schools)," said Billups. "It's reverse prejudice. It's politically incorrect to be Christian." Now she feels Winthrop is the right place for her. "The art professors are so dedicated and so good."

Billups has completed the first year of her master's program, and will spend two more years creating her Jesus-themed art.

"The greatest artists stood out because they so badly needed to express things that weren't being seen,
and they had to invent a new way to see them...

"I'm just asking the question. As a social satirist, I get to make fun of (society) and if I couldn't make fun of it, I'd just cry."