Meet Kristin Bauer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristin Bauer.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was born and raised in the Twin Cities area of MN until my family relocated to Phoenix during my adolescence. I remember first going to the Walker Museum as a child on a school field trip, and seeing from my school bus Coosje van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg’s massive Spoonbridge and Cherry in the sculpture garden covered in a light sprinkling of snow. That moment stayed with me as one of being transported, in which the world is full of possibility and magic, full of alternate perspectives and conceptual points of entry.

This was the way that I too wanted to engage with the world. I went to ASU to study art and traveled to Italy for a study abroad program- I received my BFA in painting there in 2004. That year I began showing my art with Kimber Lanning at Modified Arts and she was supportive of my career for several years. Between 2005 and 2007 I had two daughters named Lilly and Bella and despite the stresses of being a young single mom I continued to paint and have shown. Right before Bella was born I enrolled in a Master’s Degree in Counseling and Art Therapy program. Studying therapy and psychology and newer modalities inspired me immensely as an artist and upon graduating I ended up not pursuing a career as an art therapist, instead my art work changed drastically and I joined the downtown art collective EyeLounge in 2009. Meanwhile I met the love of my life, my husband Emmett Potter, in 2008 when we both had art studios in the building downtown that now houses Filmbar. During the recession, he and I opened a pop-up art gallery called Squeeze in Scottsdale in 2010 and got married the week after.

After we closed that project in 2011, I focused on my art and did arts writing for Beautiful Decay, FFDC, ToneAudio, JAVA and also did Art PR consulting work for a while. Writing and being involved in marketing and promotion for a while added another layer of conceptual understanding to my work. All the while I have focused on making and exhibiting my artwork regionally and across the United States and abroad in solo and group exhibitions. I have been fortunate to participate in arts residencies as well, traveling regularly and enjoying family time with Emmett, Lilly and Bella.

Please tell us about your art.
My work explores perception and semiotics situated within the historical context of war, the constructs of otherness and the Self, and the trafficking of ideologies. I am interested in collapsing linear time and withdrawing the pervasive spirit of humanity’s dance of creation/destruction that has evolved and surfaced in our developing political and philosophical discourse. Drawing from my background as a writer and my education in psychology, my studio practice integrates and examines persuasive and pedestrian text and image content, as well as the origin of film and literary editing practices of 20th century propaganda.

I seek to hijack and subvert the communication methods that breed fear and division, frequently appropriating propaganda speech and poster phrases and creating photography of viewed film propaganda as my source material. Methodically, I move through a process of viewing, absorbing, distilling and ultimately abstracting the content in a sort of semiotic alchemy, wherein the content of persuasion is excised and the sensed emotional weight is all that remains.

All of my work incorporates plastics of some sort: synthetic polymer pigments, plexiglass and films are activated for their conceptual properties of transparency, and their relationship to sleek (shiny and sellable) commodification. I frequently employ corporate signage and marketing methods, materials and manufacturing techniques in the creation of my work, in order to bring the content into a familiar realm as an object, and to situate the finished products of artwork in an abstracted dialogue within the field of “Manufactured Consent.”

We often hear from artists that being an artist can be lonely. Any advice for those looking to connect with other artists?
Be compassionate and kind, and remain open. Stay acquainted with what you have to offer and where you need to grow. Don’t be afraid to explore and build community in other places too- the art world is so global these days and the internet has expanded what community can mean. Also, be expansive and open to how you define “artist.”

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My work is included in New American Paintings Issue 138 coming out on newsstands this fall and also available online. I have several works in a group exhibit called Text Message in Boston at Lanoue Gallery opening in September and I have work in TriBeCa NYC at Cheryl Hazan Gallery.

Contact Info:

• Website: kristinbauerart.com
• Instagram: @reallyrealkristinbauer

Image Credit:
Artist portrait: Chris Loomis

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