Krista Harris is an expressionist painter whose work blurs lines between abstraction and the natural world. Richly layered and nuanced surfaces keep images and ideas in the air as if waiting to come into focus. Allusions to landscape and the figure, interwoven with pattern and line, collaborate to suspend a moment in time, something almost recognizable, suggestive of a place that is everywhere and nowhere at once.
Harris’ mixed media works on canvas and paper “are part art, part science experiment” she says, referencing her love of materials and the unpredictability of process. Her quick, natural energy is evident and easily recognizable in the work, regardless of surface or medium. The results lure and lull the viewer to share in the hypnotic journey; to slow down, to wander, and to see with child-like vision again.
"My process lies somewhere between painting and drawing. I am equally passionate about both and I compose the work by creating patinas of color with custom mixed glazes, building areas that are worked in reverse by scratching, sanding or removing paint, playing transparent atmospheric passages against thick opaque shapes, then working in and out and weaving it all together with seemingly random lines and marks. It’s a very sensual and cathartic process, and losing and finding the work as it progresses is a delicate balancing act."