Veiling and Revealing - Krista Marlene

"Untitled Y" 2004, 24 x 24 Krista Marlene

The Irvine Valley College Art Gallery opens September 16, 2005 with an exhibition of paintings by Los Angeles artist and photographer Krista Marlene. Veiling and Revealing consists of abstract paintings in acrylic, enamel and gel on wood. Having worked previously in photography, this series marks a departure for Marlene. Influenced by the urban environment where street posters and graffiti are a constant visual presence, Marlene set out to explore the process of image making itself in a series of work that recall the layers of imagery and paint on abandoned walls where traces of previous imagery and colors are barely discernable. Layers of acrylic, enamel and gel with dots placed in random patterns create a mediation on the process of representation where looking becomes an act of discerning recognizable shapes and patterns, and an exploration of the process of art itself. Veiling and Revealing question the relationship between abstraction and realism.

Krista Marlene was born in San Francisco, California. She has studied commercial art, painting, and illustration. In 1992 she moved to Philadelphia to study photography at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, graduating in 94 with a major in photography. She is currently a freelance photographer living in Los Angeles.