Kata Billups
Curriculum Vitae
Kata Billups
(b. 1958, U.S.A)
Winthrop University, Master of Fine Arts, 2005
Kansas City Art Institute, Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1989
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022-2007 On-line Show via my eBay Gallery
virtual gallery show, (International Collectors)
2008 ELVIS TAKES DALLAS
Curtis Group Architects, Dallas, TX.
2006 Fame is a Seriously Funny Thing
Bongo Java, Nashville, TN.
2006 KATA
A&D Gallery
London, UK.
2003 KATA’s Going Away Show
T-Bonz,
Charleston, SC.
2003 An American Folk Artist, KATA
La Pop Gallerie,
Ivry Sur Sein, FR.
2001 Dylan in Black and White, Mostly
The Arts Company, Nashville, Tn.
2001 Bob Dylan, Painted Lyrics
The Depot Gallery, Montauk, NY.
2000 KATA One Woman Show
32 Vendue Gallery, Charleston, SC.
1999 KATA
M.C.A. Music Artist Development Headquarters,
Nashville, TN.
1999 KATA
Capitol Records Headquarters,
Los Angels, CA.
1998 ELVIS SIGHTINGS
Fifty Two Five, Charleston, SC.
1997 Elvis in New Orleans
The Living Room, New Orleans, LA.
1996 Rock and Roll Icons by Kata Billups
Channel Red, Charleston, SC.
1995 New Work by KATA
The Atlanta Music Festival, Atlanta, GA.
1995 Versace Rocks
Versace, Miami, FL.
1994 Rock and Roll Cigars
Wake Up Little Suzie, Washington D.C.
1994 New Rock and Roll work by KATA
The Island Restaurant , Isle of Palms, SC.
1993 Elvis Sightings
Twelfth and Porter, Nashville, TN.
1992 ELVIS IN THE BUILDING
Outside In, Hollywood, CA.
1991 CAPITOL ELVIS
Capitol Records, Nashville, Tn.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2003 GRADUATE EXHIBITION
Winthrop University Gallery, Rock Hill, SC.
2001 New Folk and Outsider Show
America Oh Yes!, Hilton Head, SC.
2001 Elvis, Glorious Elvis
Galerie Michel Gillet, Paris, FR.
2000 ELVIS
Musee de’Orsay, Sete, FR.
1999 KATA
New York Folk Art Society, New York, NY.
1999 Howard Finster Visionary with KATA
The Nesin Gallery, Myrtle Beach, SC.
1998 Show in the Electric Chair
Primitive Kool, San Diego, CA.
1997 Folk Artists
The Red Piano Too, St. Helena’s Island, CS.
1997 Rock Stars in Art
Fish Head Soup, Denver, Co.
1996 KATA and Others Rock Artists
Checkered Moon, Savannah, GA.
1995 ICONS,
The Yard Dog, Austin, TX.
1995-1996 Elvis & Marilyn, 2X Immortal, Travelling International Show,
The N.Y. Historical Society, New York, NY., Honolulu Academy of the Arts, Honolulu, Hi., The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Boston, MA., Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC., Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH., San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA.
1994 FOOD
Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC
1993 Rock & Roll
Diversity Out, Atlanta, GA.
1992 ELVIS SHOW
Delta Axis, Memphis, TN.
Early Group Exhibitions
1992 Out Door Picoletto Art Show
Picoletto Spoleto, Charleston, SC.
1991 KATA
JAMIE, Nashville, TN.
1989 Opryland Art Purchase Award
Opryland Hotel
Nashville, TN.
1987 Athena Art Competition
The Parthenon, Nashville, Tn.
1987 Fundraising Show
The Museum of the American Indian, Washington DC.
1979 Purchase Award
Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO.
Kata developed as an artist over the last four decades since graduating with the highest award from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1979.
First living in Charleston, Kata created murals for many of the best nightclubs and restaurants and won a Platinum Addy Award for one of her illustrations. Kata was the co-creator, fundraiser and advertising supervisor for The Unicorn Ball. This event created a venue for the citizens of Charleston to meet Gian Carlo Menotti (the founder of Charleston’s world renowned arts festival which is named The Spoleto Festival).
Then moving to Long Island, Kata created pieces for clients like Gentleman’s Quarterly Magazine, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Newsday New York, Preservation Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine and Paris France’s ROCK&FOLK.
Later in Nashville Kata began a series of paintings focusing on Elvis. The work playfully narrated “Elvis Sightings” and helped germinate her future body of work which includes Kata’s favorite rock and roll icons from the sixties and seventies.
Three of Kata’s first collectors were Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and The Tennessee State Museum. As this body of work grew, the list of famous collectors grew. Within that list are Julia Roberts, R.E.M., Willie Nelson, Jon Bon Jovi, The William J. Clinton Presidential Library, Jimmy Vaughan, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins etc.
In 2002 Kata returned to school for her M.F.A . Her Master’s Thesis entitled Let Jesus OUT of The Box: The Case for an Emotional Jesus in Painting. Kata asserts that within the entire lifespan of imagery surrounding Jesus -there are only a handful of paintings that picture him as an emotional being.
Kata lived in Colorado with her husband for about ten years. While living there she developed a new venue for her work through eBay.
Currently KATA and her husband live in Cadiz Kentucky (about an hour north of Nashville TN.) and run her gallery called RockandRollIconArt. Kata is currently working on a new large painting with a genre scene set in a 70’s living home interior (equip with poodle lamps, orange velvet sofa and kitschy floral sunroom). The narrative involves Mick Jagger, his two black girlfriends and their ‘straight’ Mother and Father. Again, KATA is juxtaposing the 70’s ideas of sexuality, fame and every day life in the 70’s with today’s morals and customs.
Kata will also be traveling to a few indoor art show venues each year and may be looking for few show locations outside her gallery. More information about these venues will be announced on this site as they are planned.
A new website (and corresponding book) is being developed by KATA in the coming year about her graduate Thesis work ; Let Jesus OUT of The Box: The Case for an Emotional Jesus in Painting