Gorse Mill Studios artist Karen Krieger’s atmospheric landscape paintings will be on display as part of the Prince and Pilgrim’s Winter Exhibition in London from February 22-25 at the Stable Gallery, 174 Kew Road, TW9 2AS, UK (PrinceandPilgrim.com). Krieger’s London premier features contemplative work with her signature interplay of mist and mountains, both representational and abstract, contemporary yet ancient, planned and spontaneous, inviting the viewer to bring their own personal connection to the inherent flow, patterns, and natural spirit of the paintings. Her work explores a range of media to achieve its subtle depth, including rice paper, ink, pigment, and wax.
Krieger’s paintings complement the variety of work and artists featured at the Prince Pilgrim’s Stable Gallery, all unified by a strong, painterly aesthetic. “I’m honored to be part of the gallery’s carefully curated exhibition. The intimate, personal space of the gallery provides viewers with a more immersive art experience to enjoy the paintings, sculpture, and ceramics.”
According to Krieger, “a painting coalesces for me when there is a unified balance and rhythm between the unplanned and directed pigment onto the surface. I achieve this by harmonizing both intentional brush strokes with a serendipitous movement of pigment, ink, or wax. I’m always working toward preserving this natural ebb and flow of both painted and empty spaces on the paper or canvas surface. As I paint, forms from the ink create natural depth on the rice paper, while other parts of the surface are left without ink to appear as clouds, sky, mist, or distance, conveying the feeling of the environment.” This constant balance and duality is apparent in every one of her paintings, evoking a natural tranquility.
Viewers see different details hidden within Krieger’s work, some of which were planned, others which arose through the random flow of the ink and water on the paper during the painting process. Like her paintings, most mountains are not composed of clean lines or symmetry, but are carved from eons of growth and erosion, and our eyes are drawn to this natural beauty. Viewers may be captivated by the seemingly infinite vastness of mountains in nature, and yet are comforted by the small details of shadow, color, depth, serenity and light, which Krieger conveys in her paintings.
Karen Krieger (www.art203.com) works as a full time artist from her studio at Gorse Mill Studios in Needham. Her visual training began as a graphic designer and art director before focusing exclusively on her painting. Karen received her B.A. in philosophy and music from Brandeis University (1987) in Waltham, Massachusetts and later a certificate in graphic design from the Massachusetts College of Art (1995) in Boston. Karen’s paintings are in private collections in the U.S. and Europe and are available in the United States through the Tao Water Art Gallery in West Barnstable.
