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Artist
Kristen Brown San Francisco, California

Artist Kristen Brown sheds light on the fragility of memories with her dreamlike portraits. Kristen uses her knowledge of photography to create motion blur, distortion and multiple exposures in her oil paintings, overlapping figures, landscapes and cityscapes. The models in her paintings are referenced from people close to her, and the locations are significant places from various time periods throughout her life. "I will often use multiple places or time periods in a painting to illustrate the idea of being taken back into a past moment from a current one, or the idea of the past and present feeling as though they are happening simultaneously," she explains. In the rare cases when she is not painting, you can find her printmaking, dabbling in ceramics, traveling, playing guitar or meditating. Kristen graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and a Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA.

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    About The Artist

    Artist Kristen Brown sheds light on the fragility of memories with her dreamlike portraits. Kristen uses her knowledge of photography to create motion blur, distortion and multiple exposures in her oil paintings, overlapping figures, landscapes and cityscapes. The models in her paintings are referenced from people close to her, and the locations are significant places from various time periods throughout her life. "I will often use multiple places or time periods in a painting to illustrate the idea of being taken back into a past moment from a current one, or the idea of the past and present feeling as though they are happening simultaneously," she explains. In the rare cases when she is not painting, you can find her printmaking, dabbling in ceramics, traveling, playing guitar or meditating. Kristen graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and a Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA.

    Artist Statement

    While attempting to organize and regain association with particular memories, these works explore themes of dissociation, transience, memory, and truth. Blurred and slightly distorted images embody a disruption in the way certain events are processed, resembling the process of sorting through memories that feel fragmented or scattered. Memory is not always coherent or a continuous record of something that happened; every individual has different versions of past experiences, and moments can often become blurred or distant. My works express the slipperiness of questioned or manipulated memories, as well as the anxiety and altered perception of reality that occurs when a memory landmark cannot be secured or properly categorized.

    Referencing unconventional photographic abstractions, such as soft focus, motion blurs, and multiple exposures, I aim to express feelings of depersonalization and nostalgia, which disrupt the ability to understand or identify time. These works create disorganized situations and dreamlike atmospheres that evoke mystery while maintaining a psychological sensitivity. Soft surfaces and thin layers of paint create blurring effects to portray enigmatic atmospheres referencing a breakdown of comprehensible time and awareness. In an effort to regain loses in fluidity, resilience, and the normal capacity to organize information, these works capture the transitory nature of our experiences, portraying the impact of past moments and people.

    Artist Background

    Academy of Art University
    Master of Fine Arts, 2014

    University of Saskatchewan

    Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2010

    Press

    The Clark Hulings Fund FellowInterview with Artist Kristen Brown

    Hear What Collectors Say About Kristen's Work

    commentsRearrangements
    S Sonnenberg purchased this artwork. 1/12/2021 | 11:58 AM

    Just lovely...the painting is just what I expected. It is a wonderful addition to my art gallery.

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