It’s easy to get swept away by the colors in Kristin Texeira's paintings. The bold blocks of abstract shapes and flattened textures of oil paints (that can only truly be appreciated in person) spread across thick white paper forming what the artist calls “Memory Maps”. We recently visited the artist’s work space in Brooklyn, nestled in the back of an old print shop. We discussed the process of her work, the recent projects she’s been working on and the concept of paintings of memories.
“I paint to capture, document, and preserve memories. I translate the essence of moments through color by mixing up the poetics of people and places. I retell stories through various methods of mark-making using paint, collage, sketching and writing. This process preserves memories as tangible “maps.” I often juxtapose these memory maps with short captions that form the foundation for the colors I mix.”
In October 2016 Kristin was invited to the Varda Artists Residency Program where she lived and created new art works on the historic SS Vallejo. The pieces she created there were memories from where she’d recently left behind, and had been exhibited this past week at Art On Paper in NYC. She’d also been interpreting other people's memories at Canal Street Market, where she held open hours for patrons to come visit, tell their story and then have those memories transformed into paintings.
“I attempt to create something familiar, and—at the same time—something entirely elusive and intangible, like a forgotten word on the tip of one’s tongue. My colors blend and bounce off of each other. They tell of a person or place’s ambiguous history. This vagueness is complemented by specifics in my writing, which—while focusing on a moment’s singular identity and tender details—leaves much to the viewers’ interpretation.”
Film by Nick Noyes & Michelle Garcia
Music by Eddie Byun