Rising Art Star

Christina Snyder Doelling

New Works

Sat. January 26th

Reception 6-9pm

Local Georgia artist Christina Doelling is a rising new talent. Please join us for the reception of her new works, Saturday, January 26th, from 6 to 9pm.

Show Statement:

“An artist needs to continually evolve. It shouldn’t be frequent or dramatic changes,

nor attempts to purposefully reinvent oneself, but rather slight, small tweaks along the way. Experimentation is necessary to grow as an artist, and to ward off monotony. Sometimes these steps into new territory are tentative, sometimes it happens with the aggression (and enthusiasm!) of a charging bull. This show represents just such a foray.

Perhaps it is the seasonal influence, but for this show I went much more muted and earthy in my palette. There are no bright pastels or screaming, unnatural colors here.

I am using only rich, deep, “real” colors. More than ever before, I wanted to bring the colors of the outside world, in.

I still want to avoid a perfectly flat, smooth canvas. I create a rough, chunkier tooth

(that acts to “grab” the color) by using a substantial texture paint applied thickly as the base surface. Then I build up the multiple layers of color on top of that. Layer after layer of acrylic paint are subsequently added in various degrees of thin and thick, and heavily manipulated (scratched through, rubbed out, applied with palette knife, etc.). This multi-stepped process, which gives depth and luminosity to a painting, usually takes several weeks. True to most abstract work, the composition reveals itself gradually throughout the painting process. The titles, too, usually occur to me towards the end, when something about the painting leaves me feeling a certain way, or reminds me of a particular place, or evokes a mood.

For many of the paintings in this grouping tonight, I pushed my desire for more texture further by experimenting with touches of collage elements as the first layer. This is the first time I have done this to this degree on large canvases. I used photographic images, strips and squares of raw canvas, cardboard of all kinds, tissue paper, brown paper bags, paper towels, in addition to gel mediums and blended fibers. I also did quite a bit of drawing on top and within the layers too, using graphite, conté, oil sticks, grease pencils and charcoal. Not only is the cumulative result a much more exciting, active, mixed-media surface, but I love the fun little surprises that seem hidden throughout, revealing themselves only upon closer inspection. By adding so many paint layers, most of the graphic, original collage elements actually became covered up. But it is the peeking through I love; the hints, the teases, the ghost images, the nuances, the playful little surprises.

This was the most fun that I have had to date in preparation for a show, and I hope that on some level, some of this enjoyment and lighthearted spirit comes across.” - CSD

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