Pods, 2022
In my new work Pods, I examine aspects of my painting and assemblage sculpture processes to bring them closer together. I experiment with deconstructing my painting practice to reapproach it as an installation. To do this, I am assembling, deconstructing, connecting, and repairing to create a new installation form and a novel path for my artistic process.
To be more specific, I spatially pulled apart the stretcher frame that gives the painting its format - in depth, width, and height - and used it as a grid within which I could build an installation and from which I could have it break out.
I took up some of the central aspects of painting, such as form, color, gesture, and composition, and developed three-dimensional correspondences: Lines and gestures became fragments of metal pipes and rails, rubber hoses, and ropes; I translated patterns using acrylic sheets, stones, magnets, sheet metal, and other building materials; shapes and gestures became poured concrete forms and plants. These components stretch in and out of the frameworks—they hang, lean, balance, jam, pile, or snap into their assigned places.
Pod 1
Pod 2
Pod 3
Dawn Series, 2021
28 Acrylic Paintings
Email: hej@christinakral.net to receive a private view of all 28 Paintings in this series.
Artist Statement
The inspiration for my latest abstract painting cycle, Dawn Series (2021), stems from the English translation of Homer’s Odyssey by Emily Wilson. Reading the Odyssey, I was particularly fascinated by the reoccurring motif of the dawn. While dawn “always appears, always with rosy fingers, always early” (Emily Wilson), it drives the story forward and brings about a very different day each day. I was fascinated by its repetition throughout the poem and its subtle modifications in phrasing which kept me engaged as a reader.
Coming from sculpture and assemblage work, I have been pursuing abstract painting for the last two years. It enabled me to integrate new procedures into my practice, adding different aspects to my image creation, such as color, contrast, layers, and rhythm.
When I started with the Dawn Series, I asked myself, was it possible to create a set of repeatable procedures, executed with slight variations to create a series of same-sized yet singular abstract paintings? Repetition would be crucial to anchor the process and move it along. Omission and alteration would support a dynamic process with different ensuing pathways in a continuous cycle.
The decision to use the same format (100 x 130 cm) for each painting provided structure and ultimately a lot of freedom within the frame. I mostly worked on the floor to apply the fluid layers of paint. The identical format allowed me to line up the canvases next to each other or even partially stack them on top of each other like a cascade to move paint from one canvas to the next and allow lines or shapes to continue and colors to repeat or reemerge on different canvases. To reinforce the idea of continuity, I worked predominantly with acrylic inks. It allowed me to use it flexibly with markers, brushes, or buckets to create subtle textures on the canvas without a heavy impasto build-up and thus give it a more ephemeral appeal. Next to the paint, I also used water as a painting device to move and remove paint and create negative marks.
The inspiration for my latest abstract painting cycle, Dawn Series (2021), stems from the English translation of Homer’s Odyssey by Emily Wilson. Reading the Odyssey, I was particularly fascinated by the reoccurring motif of the dawn. While dawn “always appears, always with rosy fingers, always early” (Emily Wilson), it drives the story forward and brings about a very different day each day. I was fascinated by its repetition throughout the poem and its subtle modifications in phrasing which kept me engaged as a reader.
Coming from sculpture and assemblage work, I have been pursuing abstract painting for the last two years. It enabled me to integrate new procedures into my practice, adding different aspects to my image creation, such as color, contrast, layers, and rhythm.
When I started with the Dawn Series, I asked myself, was it possible to create a set of repeatable procedures, executed with slight variations to create a series of same-sized yet singular abstract paintings? Repetition would be crucial to anchor the process and move it along. Omission and alteration would support a dynamic process with different ensuing pathways in a continuous cycle.
The decision to use the same format (100 x 130 cm) for each painting provided structure and ultimately a lot of freedom within the frame. I mostly worked on the floor to apply the fluid layers of paint. The identical format allowed me to line up the canvases next to each other or even partially stack them on top of each other like a cascade to move paint from one canvas to the next and allow lines or shapes to continue and colors to repeat or reemerge on different canvases. To reinforce the idea of continuity, I worked predominantly with acrylic inks. It allowed me to use it flexibly with markers, brushes, or buckets to create subtle textures on the canvas without a heavy impasto build-up and thus give it a more ephemeral appeal. Next to the paint, I also used water as a painting device to move and remove paint and create negative marks.
Omeros, 2021
11 Acrylic works on canvas
Untitled (Akimbo), 2021
Acrylic paint on unprimed canvas
150 x 200 cm
Untitled (Forest), 2021
Acrylic paint on canvas
150 x 200 cm
Untitled (5 pm), 2021
Acrylic paint on unprimed canvas
150 x 200 cm
Untitled, 2021
Acrylic paint on unprimed canvas
150 x 200 cm
Untitled (Omeros), 2021
Acrylic paint, pigment on canvas
200 x 220 cm
Untitled (Egret), 2021
Acrylic paint on canvas
150 x 200 cm
Untitled, 2021
Acrylic paint on canvas
150 x 200 cm
Untitled (Moondog), 2021
Acrylic paint on canvas
150 x 200 cm
Untitled (Romare), 2021
Acrylic paint on canvas
150 x 200 cm
Untitled (Suspension), 2021
Acrylic paint on canvas
150 x 200 cm
Untitled, 2021
Acrylic paint on canvas
130 x 170 cm
2019
The process for this body of paintings reflects to a great extent acts of gardening. I placed several of the large canvases on the floor, walked around those fields, and tended to them from all sides. I raked, dug, watered, spread and pulled, threw, and used self-built tools to apply many coats of diluted acrylic paint onto wet unprimed canvas. Most of the works in this series have tiny traces of dirt, leaves, and fir cones that I also used to apply paint.
The titles of these paintings are quotes from the books of Chris Kraus that I had read while working on this series.
Acrylic works on unprimed canvas
The process for this body of paintings reflects to a great extent acts of gardening. I placed several of the large canvases on the floor, walked around those fields, and tended to them from all sides. I raked, dug, watered, spread and pulled, threw, and used self-built tools to apply many coats of diluted acrylic paint onto wet unprimed canvas. Most of the works in this series have tiny traces of dirt, leaves, and fir cones that I also used to apply paint.
The titles of these paintings are quotes from the books of Chris Kraus that I had read while working on this series.
2018
Wall-mounted sculptures
The ‘Gridworks’ series is my most literal translation of what a garden means to me; a representation of beauty, utility, nature entangled with human creations and a lot of repurposing. I consider these wall-mounted sculptures as small-scale yards: Rectangular metal frames that I filled and dressed with plants and objects I have either found or made.
To me, the front yard marks the transition space between the public and the private realm. Similarly the ‘Gridworks’ place self-expression before the public eye.
Gridworks
Wall-mounted sculptures
The ‘Gridworks’ series is my most literal translation of what a garden means to me; a representation of beauty, utility, nature entangled with human creations and a lot of repurposing. I consider these wall-mounted sculptures as small-scale yards: Rectangular metal frames that I filled and dressed with plants and objects I have either found or made.
To me, the front yard marks the transition space between the public and the private realm. Similarly the ‘Gridworks’ place self-expression before the public eye.
Untitled – steel frame, plants, metal, wood, string, acrylic paint
Detail View
Detail view
Untitled (blue, green, yellow) closed – steel frame, wood, paper, stones, acrylic glass, acrylic paint
Detail view
Untitled (blue, green, yellow) open – steel frame, wood, paper, stones, acrylic glass, acrylic paint, magnets
Detail view
Detail view
Untitled (scaffolding) – steel frame, plant, metal, wood, pine, tray, prism, painted gauze, glass pitcher
Detail view
Untitled - steel frame, plants, paper, paint, wood, plaster, metals, vessels, stone, clothespin, etc.
Detail view (Folia eucalypti)
Detail view (painted brickpart, air plant, paper)
Untitled with horse sculpture – steel frame, plants, sculpture, photograph, wood, bamboo, glass, metal, paper, acrylic glass, acrylic paint, etc.
Detail view
Detail view
Untitled – steel frame, wood, acrylic glass, paint, plants, LED lights, mirrors
Detail view