The news of Karen Moss's passing brought me back to the fall of 2022, when I visited her "Wonder Home"—a name that seemed to me the most fitting—in Boston while preparing for the exhibition Eccentric Vision: Works on Paper from a Private Collection.
As the show’s curatorial advisor, I reviewed Karen's personal collection, which echoed the spirit of the Outsider Art Fair. A statement of who she was, Karen's home was filled with hundreds of works and objects, each voicing a free-floating idea. These ideas needed neither definition nor defense but simply invited my curiosity and connection. It was that buoyant openness that made wandering through her home feel like turning a kaleidoscope, with each room revealing its own whimsical world.
The apartment door opened onto a beaver-shaped wooden sculpture beneath one of Karen's self-portraits. A runner rug, perhaps from the Caucasus, led through a gallery-like hallway, where doodles and figurative drawings on paper lined the walls. Two triptychs highlighted one side of the living room, one recalling the spontaneity of Surrealist automatism, the other the playful assemblages of Neo-Dada.
Then there was the unexpected delight of finding a mosaic tribute to Frida Kahlo's self-portrait above the toilet. It greeted me upon entering the bathroom and reappeared in the mirror as I washed my hands—a choice so bold and full of subtle humor that it still makes me smile whenever I think of it.
No single autumn day in Boston could capture the fullness of someone as vibrant as Karen. Still, I came away understanding what Miyako Yoshinaga, a gallerist and longtime friend of hers, had once told me: Karen made people realize that she was someone special. The visit wasn't only about art-historical references; our conversation drifted freely from travel to fashion. She shared stories from her many journeys, showed me her mother's jewelry collection with childlike delight, and together we nicknamed the bag I was carrying "the bath puff" because of its wildly ruffled trim.
It was an honor to connect with Karen and earn her trust. After wandering through her home—her imagination made spatial—and getting to know her, I found that Eccentric Vision took shape naturally from that experience. The installation translated the way works inhabited the walls of her apartment into the gallery space.
There the curiosities, concerns, and affinities that underlay Karen's vision of, and love for, art and the world converged. I feel especially fortunate today that I had, and still have, the opportunity to contribute a small piece to the portrait of Karen, whose light continues to be reflected in those whose lives she touched.
Karen, the world now arrives endlessly through algorithms. Never has an eccentric vision been more visible to the mainstream. Yet true vibrancy and curiosity cannot be delivered by any feed. Those were gifts you carried so naturally. May you rest in peace.
Images from top to bottom:
Entrance to Karen Moss's apartment
Mosaic tribute to Frida Kahlo's self-portrait in the bathroom
(Photos by the author)
Karen Moss at Eccentric Vision, 2023
(Photo Courtesy: MIYAKO YOSHINAGA)