Painting as a monument to thoughts, Kristin Calabrese

Kristin Calabrese was interviewed by Julia Schwartz, Figure/Ground Communication, at the beginning of the year. They talked about her work, her 'hole' series, source material, realism and artistic influences.

I think realism is particularly important to me because I was raised in a dysfunctional family where all the players acted in typical dysfunctional ways. An extreme example – my Dad was physically and explosively violent towards me. Weeks, days or even minutes later, my Mom would deny that the experience had ever happened. It was like that with everything. I was constantly told that something hadn’t been said that had; something hadn’t happened that had indeed happened.
For me, painting is a concrete monument to the thoughts, ideas, and feelings that I put on the canvas. The viewer cannot say something isn’t there or true or didn’t happen because it’s right there in plain sight. more

Kristin Calabrese, installation of Hole paintings

Kristin Calabrese Art as Bandaid, 2011 oil on linen 84 x 84 inches

detail, Kristin Calabrese, Art as Bandaid