Katelyn Ledford
Verso
January 15 – February 7, 2026
Katelyn Ledford is known for virtuosic trompe-l’oeil paintings that combine meticulous craft with dark humor and theatrical self-awareness. Working in oil and acrylic on canvas, she renders materials such as wood grain, masking tape, lace, and denim with uncanny precision, treating illusion as a form of performance.
In her recent work, Ledford depicts the backs of painting stretchers as charged psychological spaces, where declarations of sincerity slip between confession and artifice. Her paintings explore how authenticity is constructed, rehearsed, and exposed, drawing parallels between painterly illusion and contemporary modes of self-presentation. At once precise and unstable, devotional and self-critical, her work balances bravado with vulnerability, allowing humor, pressure, and emotional excess to coexist.
Ledford (b. 1994, Austin, TX.) lives and works in Jersey City, New Jersey. She received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and has exhibited internationally.