Kristina O'Donnell
I am interested in the idea of creation and entrapment, of image born and bound to the same pictorial surface. By using a thick layer of varnish, my paintings separate the viewer from the temptations of the painted surface, interrupting its intimacy and creating a sense of distance. Working with oil and varnish on a miniature scale, my works demand closer examination. However they both entice and prevent closer inspection by imprisoning the image within its glossy resinous surface. The reflective nature of the varnish also only allows the image to be seen from certain angles and distances, pushing the works to the edge of visibility and playing with the idea of paintings as static images.
The sense of time that permeates the surface of paintings traps and slows down the gaze. The obsessive and laborious process of reproducing a photograph in paint makes us particularly aware of the changing rhythms between the two mediums. My pictures are what happen in the space between painting and photography, the shift in time between the flash of the camera and the slow stillness that infuses the paint.
Time is further confused by what is being represented. My works are anachronisms, a collection of seemingly discovered objects, taken from their homes and relocated to the white walls of the gallery. Having the freedom to be in the here and now they are bound to the past, leaving us with a series of unanswered questions and challenging the idea of how the painted image functions.
Recent works on tracing paper have the delicacy of memories. Based on Rimbaud's poems they invite the viewer close to hear the telling of a story while at the same time keep a sinister quietness.
Biography
1981 Born in London
Exhibitions
2005 Art 26, Westbourne Studios, London
2005 Papercut, group drawing show, St Luke's, London
2004 Christmas Group Show, Toni Heath Gallery, London
2004 Recent Graduates, Affordable Art Fair, London
2004 Young Gods, Clapham Art Gallery, London
Forthcoming Exhibitions
April 2005 Art Review's "Ten of the Best", London
Awards
2003 Scholarship for study at New York Academy of Art, USA
2003 Commended, Apthorp Fund for Artists, Barnet, London
2002 Commended, BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London
Education
BA (Hons) Fine Art Chelsea College of Art & Design, London