Karina Hornberger
Medium: Painting Studio Location: Artist Studios at 43-01 22nd Street - Studio# 236 43-01 22nd Street Website:: https://karina-isabel.square.site/ Artist Bio: Karina is an American-Colombian artist specializing in watercolor painting. She graduated from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL with her BFA in Studio Art and English. Her passion is to tell stories through the power of illustration, and having recently moved from Orlando to New York, her work currently focuses on telling the stories of the surrounding culture as she immerses herself in the city as an observer. Artist Statement: Being a part of a Christian arts and faith residency, my paintings are primarily inspired by my observations of New York, and these visual recreations have helped me to recognize God in the sights that surround me. Man-made objects collide and contrast against Creation in this city comprised of brick, nature, and the human spirit. I aim to capture a story in each of my paintings, sometimes literally written through words, and sometimes simply through colors and shadows that reveal the scene's mood. In moving to New York, I have sought to integrate myself through a capturing and retelling of my surroundings from the perspective of my own brush. I have also experimented in my art by illustrating stills from nostalgic movies I enjoy. These are engaging art pieces that allow me to indulge in practicing expressions and reliving the comfort of these films through my painted recreations of them. In my adjustment to living in a new city, I have found this to be a helpful practice to re-engage material that is familiar to me. With these film-inspired artworks, rather than capturing the story of my experiences in New York, these paintings return to the comfort of stories I am already familiar with. With all of these paintings, using a watercolor medium has prompted me to recreate and study these images with care and precision. The difficulty of managing the often unpredictable nature of watercolor has made this medium parallel to my attempts to tame New York and make this city manageable for myself. The sometimes successful or unsuccessful attempts I have made to accurately capture the details of these images mirrors the reality of adapting to fully embrace a new culture and all that comes with it. All images and text copyright Karina Hornberger