KRISTEN MARTINCIC
JUNE 2-30, 2023
Main Gallery
poolscapes
I make mixed media paintings about being in and around swimming pools. By using a hybrid of printmaking, drawing and painting, I orchestrate subtle and dramatic shifts that reveal how the color of blue changes depending upon the architecture of the pool. I layer luminous translucent gradients on top of painted geometric plywood shapes. I extract and deconstruct elements from the swimming pool; bending, cutting and rearranging lane lines, tile, and even the water itself. These surreal, futile pools move in and out of the rectangle. They are spliced together, blurring horizon and aerial views to shift perspective.
I am shaped by my early experiences as a young swimmer. Drawing on these sensory recollections, I reflect on both the methodical, meditative nature of lap swimming and the playfulness of being in a pool. I think about how the body moves in water as well as the fundamental connection of the body moving with the breath. Using images and objects associated with pools, I meditate on water’s translucency and the act of swimming. I focus on the sensation of being submerged and the perceptual phenomena of water. I consider my pools as a pathway; the way that being in water can take one outside of oneself. In this way, water can be a color, a space, a feeling, a sensory experience.
About the Artist
Kristen Martincic is a multidisciplinary artist working at the intersection of printmaking, painting, and sculpture. Her artwork considers the psychological and visceral experience of swimming and has been widely shown in solo & group exhibitions. Venues include San Jose Museum of Quilt & Textiles, Editions/Artists’ Book Fair NYC, International Print Center New York, American University in Egypt, Indiana University Art Museum & The Print Center in Philadelphia. Her work is in several public collections, including the Sheldon Museum of Art, Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions, Fidelity Investments & the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. She has been a resident artist at Jentel, Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, Prairie Center of the Arts, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts & KHN Center for the Arts. She frequently presents lectures, workshops, and demonstrations, most recently at California State University Stanislaus, Kansas City Art Institute, Oberlin College, Penland School of Crafts & Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts. Noteworthy interviews and editorials have included The Jealous Curator Art for Your Ears Podcast, Frankie Mag, The Baffler & Les Echos Weekend. Martincic earned a BFA from Bowling Green State University and an MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is currently based in Columbia, Missouri.