Through broken forms, Kat Kristof presents monumental architecture of the mind
As we spend most of our time online and find ourselves trapped in an increasingly dystopian reality, glitches and ruptures seem more appropriate to present contemporary ideas. Kat Kristof (previously) focuses on this sense of disconnection and even duplicity in her vivid portraits. Visible brushstrokes evoke past gestures and memories that underpin our lives, while layered patches build upon each other to create complex structures within each piece.
“My work explores the structure of the psyche. These are scattered, fragmented, chaotic projections of the self,” Kristoff said of her latest body of work, exhale. The exhibition, co-organized by BEERS London and the Saatchi Gallery, explores the artist’s formal architectural training in his native Hungary before moving to Folkestone, Kent. The artist likens the abstract shapes that make up a face or torso to a corridor or a room, inviting the viewer into the intimate interior of her subject.
While each portrait contains a degree of psychological distortion, Christophe expands and contracts their surreal qualities. For example, “Echo” features a mirrored subject looking directly at the viewer, although the figure on the right is looking out from an inverted face. The glitches in “Solitude” are even more jarring, as two faces stare at each other through a central stripe that bisects the work.
For Christophe, there is unlimited room for our minds to break into new territories, although like the walls that protect our homes, we must cross barriers to get out of ourselves. “What we desire remains elusive, not because it doesn’t exist, but because we bring it with us,” she added.
exhale The exhibition will run from 23 October to 16 November at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Find out more about Kristof on her website and Instagram.
