Bio:

Kristin, a native Texan, completed her MFA at Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles in 2016. She was named one of Saatchi Art’s 20 Artists to Watch in 2020. Kristin’s paintings can be found in collections across the U.S. and Europe. Her work has been shown at The Other Art Fair in Dallas, and in group exhibitions with Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans and Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, among others. She has had solo exhibitions with The Bolsky Gallery in Los Angeles, St. Edward’s University in Austin, and Commerce Gallery in Lockhart. Kristin currently lives and works in Dallas, TX and is a studio artist at The Cedars Union.

Statement:

While living in LA and working towards my MFA, I began to consider the human experience in relation to location as a reference for my work (and I also fell in love with film). The Hollywood nostalgia prevalent all over Los Angeles became a launching pad for my cinematic view of the landscape around me. I began to consider the way we experience films, and approached art making the same way. While at Otis College of Art + Design, I worked with a team of amazing professors (all artists themselves), who always encouraged me to look outside the studio for inspiration. During one studio visit in particular, I was encouraged to visit Kenneth Hahn Park in Culver City for reference photos. It is that first trip to Kenneth Hahn that changed the way I painted moving forward. The smog blanketing the cityscape of LA from such a high point created an atmosphere I couldn’t paint enough. I began a series of what I called “smog paintings” that explored the cloudy atmosphere of LA at different angles and times of day, recreating the aura of the sprawling city. This practice evolved into the landscape work I create today.

My love for capturing the aura of a location through painting was amplified when I first visited Marfa, TX. While living in LA, I often would travel to and from Austin in-between semesters. Marfa became a transitional pitstop to shake off the edginess of LA and take a breath in the open landscape of West Texas. Being in the landscape of West Texas is almost like visiting another planet. You can see for miles and miles with no building in sight; the landscape slows down time and calms your mind.

Upon moving back to Texas from California in 2016, I continued exploring the landscapes and highways around myself through painting. The experience of living outside of my home state had sparked a sense of wanderlust into my work; a longing for endless landscapes and wild sunsets was juxtaposed by a desire to capture Americana and architecture of the cities around me. Today, my work continues to oscillate between the landscapes of California and Texas, with a continued expansion to the Western U.S.