At first glance, I'm enthralled by the psychedelic colors in Kara Maria's paintings.

After being dazzled by the brightness, I then spy the intense political imagery hidden in the swirls of these prismatic canvases.  From surveillance cameras, to BP logos, to pornographic figures intermixed with military weapons...it's a whirlwind.

Kara's other work includes drawings on hotel stationery of vacationers (did she spy these people in real life?), images of slabs of meat, and abstracted prints.

Her most recent body of work focuses on just that, the body. Her series "Breast Portraits" omit the head of the person, but show both boobs bared. The photos she paints from were sent to Kara's e-mail by "female friends – including artists, art historians, curators, collectors, and others from across the US and abroad."

The first portrait of the series, which features her own chest, now hangs in the home of a private collector.  

She is married to another local artist, Enrique Chagoya, and paints here in Sartle's hometown of San Francisco.