Artist Kirstin Carlin currently lives and works in Auckland. Having completed a Masters of Fine Arts at Glasgow School of Fine Art in 2010, her paintings are musical and full of rhythm and colour. Her brushstrokes ark through fields of colour while describing form, enhancing texture, and offering moments of contrast. In other words, they bring about the right visual pitch. What is most apparent in her work is the direct application of paint spread with a loose technique. The hand of the artist is visible through the thick and heavy brushstrokes, energetic dabs leaving traces of awareness and autonomy.
Carlin's subjects are often humble, inspired by found pictures of flowers and thrift shop landscapes. Other times they are quite grand, relating to the works of Frances Hodgkins, for example. Concentrating on simple formal components such as the placement of elements within space, Carlin translates these found images into assortments of quick, nonchalant brushstrokes with pale and kitschy colours. Viscous and creamy, her works contain a palette of pale pastels, earthy tones, and vivid blues and greens.
Carlin always brings her formal rigour and energy to her work. Her paintings at once move towards and away from an abstracted image, making recognisable objects indistinct while maintaining the essence of the original subject.
She has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally in artist run spaces, private galleries and public art institutions. Carlin has exhibited at the Bethanien (Berlin), Centre for Contemporary Art (Glasgow), Victor and Hester (Glasgow), the Physics Room (Christchurch) and Snowwhite (Auckland). Kirstin has received recognition for her work from Creative New Zealand Professional Development Funding (2009) and a William and Mary Armour Postgraduate Scholarship at the Glasgow School of Art (2009). Carlin’s work is held in major public and private collections including the James Wallace Arts Trust Collection as well as the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.