KRISTINA ROSE BAKER

Simulated Memory

September 2022

“Slings and Arrows (Study)”, Watercolor on paper, 14”x11”

There is fact, there is fiction, and there is what lies in-between. A dream presented as reality; a nightmare that too closely resembles the truth. So— which do you see?

My interest in figurative painting continues to permeate this new body of work that investigates a veiled universe where figures find themselves in mysterious circumstances. The figures are both present and simultaneously disappearing, merging with their environment and each other while loosely holding their own space and form. Their world is spatial, but described through gestural brushstrokes that don’t reveal specifics. Their universe is shifting and melding, mediated by the presence of a vertically-ruled pattern that distorts spatial and optical perception.

“I Would Have Gone Through Life Half-Awake”, Oil on panel, 18”x24”.

The process of creating a detailed underpainting, covering it with an opaque layer of oil paint, and scraping through to reveal the primary layer creates an element of unpredictability that I respond to by then working back into the wet surface of the painting. Defined brushstrokes, textures, and scraped or masked areas create spatial relationships within an otherwise unified atmosphere. This process mirrors the degradation of memory over time; once vivid, then either incomplete, reconstructed, or potentially forgotten. In order to make specific and consistent markings within the paintings, I developed and 3D-printed custom tools to manipulate the oil paint to produce uniform patterns that could be superimposed onto my paintings. The vertically-ruled pattern that is ubiquitous throughout the work is inspired by the Moiré Effect, an interference pattern that creates unique optical phenomena under specific conditions.

Opening night.