CHICAGO, IL.- Jackson Junge Gallery will present their first solo exhibition of 2025, DANGEROUSLY WHIMSICAL, featuring the work of Nashville-based artist Kate Harrold. Her seamless digital collages depict fantastical worlds and fearless characters that inspire us to shape our own realities. Each piece is meant to transport you to a different place, whether it be into a stranger’s dreams or back to the freedom of childhood.

The title DANGEROUSLY WHIMSICAL is inspired by the elements of both light and dark found in Harrold’s work. “I want to create a balance between what's dark and scary and what's exciting and joyful. The viewer will notice that when there is a scary or dark element to an image, the subject of the piece is never afraid,” she says. This can be seen in her piece “Wild Child”, where a young girl is unbothered by the dark forest and wild animals that surround her. They join her as she lets out a fearsome howl and embraces the great unknown. This spirit of adventure and fearlessness can be seen often in Harrold’s work.

The characters are the most important and inspirational element in Harrold’s collages. They manifest their own futures and realities, transporting you into a world seen through their eyes. In “Sweet Dreams” we experience the perspective of a woman who creates her own silver lining as she directs her house through a clouded sky toward the rising sun. She is accompanied by her animal companions, an orange cat and a flock of pigeons. We can only imagine what led her to this moment, but there is a feeling of hope and freedom to the piece.

Harrold’s newest collage, “Floaties,” reveals one of her greatest artistic inspirations- the endless imagination of children. The piece features a group of children facing great heights without a hint of fear as they play on a waterslide suspended in the sky. “Floaties” shows that the sky is quite literally the limit in the mind of a child, a perspective Harrold hopes her work will remind viewers to carry into their adult lives. “In some images I want viewers to feel nostalgic for their childhood and the freedom their hearts had before the seriousness of time and age took hold,” she says.

Harrold’s body of work today is a result of her education and background in traditional studio art and photography. After spending some time in professional digital editing and photo retouching, she utilized the Photoshop skills she had learned and began exploring the medium of digital collage. Now, when taking photographs, she does so with the intention of using specific elements as building blocks into a new world. “I love working with photography because, by tradition, it is meant to document reality. I, instead, create my own,” she says. The reality Harrold creates is one filled with floating buildings, friendly beasts, and fantastical adventures – meant to reflect the uncertainty of the real world. A world that she believes we all have the power to challenge: “We are all strong enough to live beyond our circumstances and achieve more than we are expected to. At the same time, we are a part of our environment and this universe. We need to live with it and protect it. Hopefully my work has the power to inspire all these things in some way or another.”

DANGEROUSLY WHIMSICAL is a challenge to all of us to connect with our inner child and face the world with an open and curious mind. By depicting people in impossible situations, Harrold hopes to convey that we have the strength and ability to achieve more than we may realize. She challenges us to face the unknown as fiercely as a child confronts a sea serpent while sailing the high seas in his pajamas.