Everything is cool
Jun 05 - Jul 05 2025
- 2 days left
Kristian Battell: Everything is cool introduces visitors to new works by artist Kristian Battell in her first solo presentation opening June 5th at VillageOneArt. Battell’s careful attention to the undulations and interrogations of land formations against sky mirrors her meticulous use of paint against canvas, alternately flattening and contrasting medium against substrate. Creating dreamscapes nestled quietly against the viewer’s expectations of the natural world, the work amazes by transmuting the familiar into the surreal. In works such as The Lichen Pikes, Battell borrows from the formal lexicon of mold spores, moss and tree rings to rapturous effect. Stark contrasts in line and color unfold against each other against a cool gradient expanse of sky. Recent paintings and sculptures by the artist reveal a complex consideration of the oft-overlooked range of living organisms beneath our feet as well as those populating the forests we breathe and explore. At times referencing the Pop-influenced color schemes and simplified yet direct imagery of renowned contemporary expert painters such as David Hockney and Etel Adnan, Battell plants her feet firmly in imaginary realms where she presents objects that once seemed recognizable as foreign and even slightly absurd.
Creating impactful artworks influenced by her Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York, NY, Kristian applies a careful and thorough approach to her composition-building. Her ability to simplify convoluted landscapes embracing elements such as mountains and forest imagery is impacted by her skill with printmaking, cemented during her BFA from SUNY Purchase in printmaking and the art of the book. On view through July 5th, Kristian Battell: Everything is cool brings a forceful new presence and energy to abstracted landscape painting in this inaugural exhibition of the artist at VillageOneArt.
