Rarely have I been as fascinated by an artist’s “process”—an inescapably ambiguous term, but in this case, let’s go with every single moment between an idea’s inception and its final, fleshy completion—as I was by that of painter Christine Gray. Example: for her eerily luminous pieces titled Neo-Geo Omen and Gemini Genesis, she started by making “God’s eyes,” an age-old Girl Scouts craft project with yarn and sticks. She made a bunch of them to be sure she found what she wanted, selected a few, and studied them, deliberating about how to transfer them to a 2-D rectangle. Once she started painting, the layering of still life and abstract and meaning presented new information, new life, so she returned to her models and made changes. A dialogue between art and object, allowing them to simultaneously develop… it shows her intense dedication to what she does. Her mind must be comprised of many little starry universes all somehow managing to communicate. “There are things to be worked out, to be discovered through the painting process. It’s not finished until all the problems are resolved in a way that surprises me. There’s an element of painting language, rather than imagery language, that I use to solve the problems… it develops very logically. Intuitively, and logically.”

Her history is layered in much the same way, with conversations between herself, nature, culture, and spirituality. Last year’s work highlighted the changing of the seasons—both natural and human-induced—using holiday icons, melting snow, tropical fruit, fabrics… and they’re painted with such rich detail, color and texture that you feel inclined to reach in and paw through the odd little trappings collected in them. “The work dealing with seasonal change had a lot to do with me moving; I’m from Austin, and I eventually moved to Santa Barbara, which is pretty much nonseasonal. Then I got to Richmond and suddenly had four very divided seasons, the ones we’d always celebrated in elementary school; I’m very inspired by those elementary school ideas...” she laughs. This year’s
work is equally iconic—much of it critiques modern American culture by examining the objects we identify as Native American (and that elementary school aspect is present, too, in paper sack “Indian” vests and beadwork). One work-in-progress juxtaposes the patterns of different fabrics to make its point. “I’m very interested in patterns and how they carry meaning. They have associations with culture— 1950’s housewife, French weaver, Navajo print—and by layering them, almost confusing them, in the painting, they’re equalized. That draws attention to what they mean...right now we have a tendency to fetishize cultures who are viewed as closer to nature, though what we’re really connecting with is our constructed perception of it.”

You can check out Christine’s work at the Reynolds Gallery’s “Almost Famous” show, opening September 5. She’s also got pieces in the upcoming Ultrasonic International 3 in Santa Monica, shows at Towson and Alfred universities, a solo project at Rare Gallery in Chelsea, and a spot at Scope London… plus she’s represented by Project 4 Gallery in DC. Not too shabby, considering she’s also a professor (she started teaching at VCU last fall).

WEB | http://www.christinegray.com. 

REYNOLDS GALLERY | 1514 W Main St | Richmond, VA | 355-6553