artist statement
Outside of the art context, crafting plays an important cultural role from early childhood through late adulthood. Magazines such as Readymade, Bust, Martha Stewart Living, and Make promote a crafting-for-all attitude, but each publication presents a contradictory set of aesthetic, financial, and technical limitations to their readers. The goal of having one's craft project look (and function) like the example in the picture is at odds with the reality of missing the mark in execution. The failure to embody the ideal is an important theme in my work. Failed geometry, failed architecture, and failed illusionism are treated with humor in my paintings and sculptures.
I use low-brow craft-kitsch materials in my paintings and sculptures in order to reinforce a theme of the commodity of craft. The recycled cardboard and styrofoam used works in opposition to the ready-to-craft materials in that they promote a something-out-of-nothing value in crafting. This aspect of my work critiques the Martha Stewart institution for its presentation of perfect craft, food, entertaining, and interior decor as an "Everyday" goal. The imagery of truffles, exotic mushrooms, jelly beans, and sweetbreads allude to the cult of the gourmet with which Martha Stewart™ associates. Truffles, pearls, and gems, all costly and inessential, must both be unearthed through digging. In my paintings, these images are positioned in empty fantasy landscapes. The viewer, driven by desire, digs through this space to obtain such treasures. I represent landscape through several degrees of mediation (first through building modest micro-sculptures, then through painting.) This removal from the real reflects what I find to be a prevalent contemporary anxiety toward not only so-called 'nature' but also toward 'the real' itself.
resume
Solo Exhibitions:
Thereafter, Gallery 1434, Santa Barbara, California, October 2006
Good Things, Gallery 1434, Santa Barbara, California, February 2006
Group Exhibitions:
Upcoming: 2007 Call for Entries Exhibition, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, California, September 2007.
MFA Thesis Exhibition, The University Art Museum, The University of California, Santa Barbara, California, April 2007.
Greater Los Angeles Masters of Fine Arts Exhibition, California State University of Long Beach, Long Beach, California, August 2006
Bright Young Things, The Arts Fund Gallery, Santa Barbara, California, August 2006
Glad/Mad/Sad Vantage Point, Gallery 1434, Santa Barbara, California, June 2006
159.3333, Gallery 1434, Santa Barbara, California, April 2006
Collabrynth, Gallery 1434, Santa Barbara, California, March 2006
Silver Star, Gold Star, The Ridley Tree, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, December 2005
Synthedgemoney, Gallery 1434, Santa Barbara, California, November 2005
2005 Texas Biennial, Bolm Studios, Austin, Texas, March 2005, Catalog with essay by Dana Friis-Hansen.
Truffle Shuffle, Camp Fig, Austin, Texas, October 2004
Retreat!, Supplemen+ at Chruch of the Friendly Ghost, Austin, Texas, February 2004
100 Proof, PECA, Austin, Texas, May 2003
Salon des Charlatans Décisifs, The New Gallery, Austin, Texas, April 2003
Senior Studio Exhibition, Creative Research Laboratory, Austin, Texas February 2003
Santa Chiara, Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy, July 2002
cockY, PECA, Austin, Texas May 2002
Publications:
Theatre Survey: The Journal of the American Society for Theatre Research, Volume 47, Number 2, November 2006. (Cover image)
Josef Woodard, "Hidden in Plain Sight." Santa Barbara News Press, September 1-7, 2006.
Rebecca S. Cohen, "Texas Biennial 2005." Artl!es, Spring 2005, No. 46.
J R Compton, "The 2005 Texas Biennial: The Illusive 3rd Dimension." Dallas Arts Revue, March, 2005.
Austin Chronicle, Volume 24, No. 30, March 25, 2005.
Elaine Wolff, "Digital-induced angst and sensory overload". San Antonio Current, March, 10, 2005.
New American Paintings, Number 54, 2004.
Anna Held Audette, editor, 100 Creative Drawing Ideas, 2004.
Awards
2006 Dedalus Painting Fellowship Nominee
2005 Chancellor's Fellowship, The University of California Santa Barbara.
2005 Juror's Choice Award, Texas Biennial.
Education:
2005-current MFA candidate, The University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
2003 BFA with highest honors, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
1998 Early college program, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
http://www.christinegray.com
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