Cristi Rinklin
The impulse to capture and save experiences is a distinct behavior reflecting this cultural moment. How images are stored and retrieved through memories, photographs, or data files offers fugitive modes of recall that eventually break down at the edges. This notion of impermanence is a persistent throughline in my work. I wonder what remains when we no longer exist? Can memory linger outside of human consciousness, like a signal waiting to be received? I consider these questions as I witness the natural world changing radically, in real time.
Simulations of the natural world such as virtual reality, gaming, and cinema, mediate our visual experiences, creating feedback loops where it is impossible to discern an origin. This exchange between technological and analog input is at the heart of my process. I photograph and digitally alter the natural world around me, then make it tangible again through the slow and intentional act of painting. The lush, painterly quality of my work contrasts against the hollow flatness of digital space, resulting in something that no longer resembles our lived experience. It is an attempt to hold onto beauty as it breaks down before our eyes.
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Cristi Rinklin received her MFA from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis in 1999, and her BFA in painting from Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1989. She has shown her work in numerous national and international exhibitions in galleries and museums. Her work is represented in Boston by Ellen Miller Gallery. Rinklin is currently a Professor at the College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, MA. She lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.
