"Abstractions are admired for their unconventional compositions and profound sense of tonality and color. This is so true for your latest series Kristen. Your saturated, densely worked surfaces, seemingly primordial in origin, transcend any sense of struggle. Your unyielding surfaces become reflective, and take on an almost luminous quality. Manipulating the paint without a sense of any brushwork results in a highly sensual and tactile materiality. Congratulations on a beautiful body of work. "

-Peter cameron Director of the Watermark Contemporary Art Gallery

"Confluence"

Each of my paintings must pose a question, but may not supply an absolute answer. It is imperative that my art engage the viewer. It is my goal to never put a period at the end of any painting. In this way I am allowing the viewer to develop a personal understanding and connection with my work. The “Confluence” series then serves as a catalyst for thought provoking questions and through this interpretation of the role of art, will allow the painting to grow.

I build each composition with a cacophony of marks and layers of color and texture that ultimately are resolved by my minimal aesthetic of symbolism. The frenetisism of the armature of the under painting is always ultimately answered by an organic unity. When successful, this aesthetic at once defines complexity and simplicity. i.e.: mathematically defining a complicated system in the context of a simpler one. This allows me to express the images that have become fixed forms in my psyche. Because these forms are represented by the natural world, through repetition and invention in society, the viewer is subliminally and instantly familiar with my visual language. This creates a sense of comfort for each viewer, thus allowing an associative value and a personal truth to be formed. The unconscious use of these symbols is not art – it is the cognitive filter of the artist that gives these paintings relevance and meaning as a body of work. The work must be self referential and intrinsically expressive.

-kristen gossler 2015