Kristina Kossi
Medium: Sculpture

Studio Location:
43-01 21st St - Studio# 220A
43-01 21st St additional entrance 43-02 22nd St

Phone: (646) 741-9320

Email: info@kristinakossi.com

Website:: Www.kristinakossi.com

Artist Bio:
A native New Yorker, Kristina began classes at the Art Students League of New York in 1992. She started with painting but was soon drawn to sculpting. But having just opened a jazz club in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, Zinc Bar, she put sculpting on hold while she developed the business. After running and managing the club successfully for twenty years, she returned to her real love, sculpting.

She studied with Anthony Antonios and Arslan at the Art Students League for seven years and now works out of her studio in Long Island City. Many of her works have won awards and her work was selected by the National Sculpture Society to be exhibited in Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina. The Salmagundi Club in New York City and the Nina Torres Gallery in Miami have also shown her work

As a child she grew up under the limelight with her parents who were European adagio stars on ice. While touring with them she performed in their shows and later on in her own shows. Her years of professional ice-skating and dancing inspired her to seek out elegant lines and beauty in her sculpting.

Kristina lives in Manhattan with her husband and 2 boys and spends as much time as possible in their house in Litchfield Hills, Connecticut reconnecting with nature and finding inspiration for new works.

Artist Statement:
Interpreting the form as a figurative sculptor and showing how grace, form and linear perspective complement each other is what I strive to portray in my work. Working in clay gives me a tactile sense that is very fulfilling and I love the ability to change directions at any given point. When I have an idea in mind, I will start with the armature and add clay but somewhere along the way I let the sculpture lead the way and tell me where it wants to go when I am working solely from imagination. It is a lesson in getting out of my comfort zone, letting go of control which is something that does not come easily to me. It really is a voyage that leads to some very interesting ideas. Each sculpture has to have a flow based on classical sources and observation. I am manifesting the female or male nude with strong character whilst giving them a sense of timelessness. I am always looking for the essence and source of the energy and the power and juxtaposing softness versus tenseness.

I have a love affair with the style from the Art Deco period. It is very exciting to create simple yet beautiful lines and understated emotions which also echo the statement of physical power that was so evident in 20th century art. The sensitivity from that era speaks to me so strongly.

My work also takes inspiration from my life as a former professional figure skater. Gliding on ice, my line was the most important thing to present to the audience as much as relating emotion to the music that I was skating or dancing to. I love to listen to music when I sculpt as it draws out the same emotion for me as when I was creating physically with my body but now I put that life into my sculptures. Being able to capture those feelings in sculpture is what drives me to sculpt. Each piece is an emotional journey for me bringing me right back to all the years of physical training and performing.




All images and text copyright Kristina Kossi