Katalin Kristof

Biography

Figurative Abstraction in Contemporary Painting

 

Originally a design-oriented architect, Katalin Kristof blended her art with her many years of architectural experience, bringing about an exciting relationship of her two passions.

Kat's interest in portraits allowed her to introduce an other element to this union and give a new meaning to the surrealistic architectural landscape by allowing the viewer to see it through an eye of the figure placed inside.

 

 

Katalin Kristof in her large-scale portraits uses flat plains of colour to disrupt the sculpturesque shapes of the figures or to tell a narrative of a dreamlike architectural landscapes.

In her works she is contrasting the abstraction of both form and colour with the - sometimes photorealistic - details of her models face or gestures.

Her iconic colours of flat acrylic paint spread and create and infinite space in the background making the oil-painted realistic details of the figure to stand out from the canvas.

Her figures are often drawn from images found in fashion magazines - usually mixtures of faces, clothes, bodies of different models-, repressed and concealed by thick layer of painted geometric shapes.

For her landscapes Katalin constructs scenes to create abstract surreal landscapes by incorporating different views, perspectives, times on one canvas, influenced by memory, philosophy, poetry and her architectural studies.

 

Born 1986 in Budapest, Kat began painting as a child. She studied art and design at Moholy-Nagy Art and Design University in Budapest and after moving to London completed her second master at the Royal College of Art..

She lives and paints at her studio in the harbour of a beautiful seaside town in the United Kingdom.