Abstract Artist: Kristin Schattenfield-Rein
Medium: Oil, Mixed Media
Website: www.kristinrein.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/KristinSRein

In my work I’m keen on using color, texture and chemical reactions on the canvas to create a universe. I add layer after layer, mark after mark, adding and subtracting to achieve a moment of grace. I am curious about how different mediums and chemicals react to one another and what they leave behind on the canvas.

Two major factors have recently changed the course of my work: first, motherhood, and second, meditation on the fact that everything on earth was created from the death of a star. We are quite literally made of stardust.  Being a mother of two very young children, I have found that motherhood has become one of the primary focuses of my painting. The work has become more about building and growth because, that’s what I am doing with my children — helping them to build and grow. The second is the idea that we are all made of stars. This fact is incredible, and inspiring to me. I have begun to experiment with incorporating base metals in the form of dust (actual stardust?) in my work that creates an almost celestial feel. Both of the ideas have melded together into one in my work. Boiled down to its essence: my work is about creation.

Kristin Schattenfield-Rein grew up the youngest of seven children in the suburbs of Washington D.C. Kristin’s mother exposed her to a wide array of arts and culture. As a teenager, she was immersed in the subculture of D.C.’s underground punk rock scene, as well as studying at the Corcoran Museum of Art. Having studied fine art with Judy Pfaff and William Tucker at Bard College, Kristin moved to New York City, where she went on to work closely with Matthew Barney on his Cremaster Cycle. Kristin’s current artistic philosophy began to take shape while working for established maximalists in NYC. Perhaps as a backlash to the maximalist movement, Kristin went in the opposite direction to find a way to make her work impact through minimalist traditions. She creates a form of painting with different mediums that produce a layered reticulative effect. Since becoming a mother of two young children her work as evolved from creating meditations into the more dynamic structures of growth, building, dna & creation. Her latest work is concentrated on the fact that we are all made of stars. Kristin is forever pushing her work further by experimenting and creating new techniques, while honoring the techniques of the past. She currently lives & works in Philadelphia with her husband and two
children.