Artist Bio

Ken works with abstract painting forms and taps into something almost primordial – something archetypal. He is drawn to color and shapes and taps into pure uncontrollable creativity. His mixed media celebrity portraits are very unique impressions of the image and the individual he is working on. He has been commissioned  to do over 60 celebrity portraits and even does corporate commissions as well. Ken is in galleries in New Orleans, New Jersey, The Berkshires, Baton Rouge, North Carolina, California and Oklahoma and has been featured in eighteen solo and group art shows. His work is in many corporate collections such as Cross Creek Pictures and Raising Cane's, and in private collections in thirteen states and Toronto. Art Daily, Millieu, Forbes, Traditional Home, Interiors, Luxe and House Beautiful magazine have all published his artwork. In 2017, he did all the marketing “art” for Bloomingdale's Spring Collection the next year. His YouTube video of him painting the triptych The Poet's Dilemma has over 156,000 views.

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From an early age, Ken was creative and had exceptional visual acuity. His love for creative forms led him to study architecture at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama after a year at The Atlanta School of Art. In 1974, he received his degree in architecture from Auburn. Since opening his architectural firm in 1984, he has won the 2019 Mizner Award from the Institute of Classical Art and Architecture's Florida Chapter, the ICAA's Shutze Award and many other accolades.  He has worked in 16 states and the Caribbean, designed over 70 houses and been published in magazines and books over 150 times over his 35 year career. The edge he brings to his architectural design work is the eye and hand of an artist and he discusses the convergence of these two in his most recent creative memoir, The Alchemy of Architecture: Memories and Insights from Ken Tate, which was selected as a 2020 Book of the Year by The Times Literary Supplement.