Meet the Artist
Artist Statement
I enjoy pulling inspiration from my favorite vacation destinations (Palm Springs and Hawaii) and combining it with Mid-Century Modern design for my creative choices; translating the beauty and atmospheric feeling of these places into lively marks, vibrant color, and rhythmic movement.
The designs may seem minimalistic in nature but many pieces when viewed in-person have a complex and nuanced palette of saturated hues. In the case of these particular artworks, the viewer will experience what is called Optical Color Mixing, where the color you perceive happens in your eye—not from me mixing colors together but because I intentionally layered luminous pigments on top of each other. It's a fun effect I find deeply satisfying and will discover while doing color studies before I start a new series.
Though I use reference photos that I’ve taken from my travels for inspiration in the studio, I don't always focus on creating a loose rendition of a photo. Often, I will instead deconstruct the image in a very abstract way.
I’ll borrow the colors I see, find a silhouette from a small section and turn it into a more prominent shape. The list goes on. All that gets infused into my art though it may seem like a messed up Mr. Potato Head to some. That’s the abstracting part: re-arranging things in a way that’s unique to my point of view and that’s pleasing to me.
Good news with abstract art: it’s easy to appreciate. You don’t need a special understanding or degree to enjoy it. If you like looking at it, for any reason at all, that’s all there is to it! Regardless of what my intentions and inspirations are, I simply hope that you enjoy ‘the looking’ and can soak in its uplifting, playful spirit.
Artist Bio
Kristen Guest is an award-winning and published full-time artist and art instructor in Southern California. She graduated from art school at Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in Art Education, that focused on painting, book arts and printmaking, and has been teaching realism painting since 2004 and abstract painting since 2018. Kristen currently works in three mediums: acrylic, oil, and colored pencil.
Kristen lives in Poway, CA where she works out of her home studio and showcases her work locally inside of Studio 6 at Art on 30th, an art center in the North Park district of San Diego, CA. Art on 30th is also where she is a Mentoring Artist and the Director of Education. Kristen recently became a Teaching Artist for R&F Paints and shares her love and knowledge of their Pigment Stick product line.
Her work is currently represented through Janssen Artspace in Palm Springs CA, and has been on exhibit with Ashton Gallery in San Diego CA, Sandstone Gallery in Laguna Beach CA, Borrego Art Institute in Borrego Springs CA, The Athenaeum Arts & Music Library in La Jolla CA, Huntington Beach Art Center in Huntington Beach CA, Arc Gallery in San Francisco CA, Port Angeles Fine Arts Center in Port Angeles WA, Woman Made Gallery in Chicago IL, Jen Tough Gallery on Artsy, and Saatchi's The Other Art Fair Online Studios Los Angeles.