Bio
Kristin Fleischmann Brewer is a painter and sculptor working and living in St. Louis, MO. Fleischmann received her Master of Fine Arts from Washington University in St. Louis in May 2011 where she was the recipient of the Mr. and Mrs. Spencer T. Olin Fellowship for Women, and received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Denver in 2007. Fleischmann has exhibited in multiple venues in Denver, Colorado, St. Louis, Missouri, and participated in her first international exhibition at the Kulturprojekt in Berlin, Germany in 2010. She has been awarded artist residencies and fellowships including the Creative Community Fellowship with National Art Strategies (summer 2015), and two residencies with The Luminary, a studio residency (spring 2012) and the FLOAT Residency with Italian Collective Radical Intention in (summer 2014).
Fleischmann expands her creative practice through curatorial projects and teaching. She currently works as the manager of programs at Pulitzer Arts Foundation where she collaborates with local and national artists and thinkers to curate public programs. Fleischmann also co-founded and directed Enamel Art Space in St. Louis, MO, from 2012-2014 with artist Katie McCullough, which exhibited the work of local and national visual artists and poets.
Artist Statement
I am a painter whose process-based work exists in the space between painting, sculpture, drawing, assemblage, and craft. My abstractions pursue ambiguity by drawing on the physicality of the material, personal narrative, and metaphor. Conceptually, the work posits abstract painting as a generative process rooted in the studio, where formal investigation is not devoid of content and illustrates painting as a means of being receptive to the world. The work is emotional – funny, strange, lovely, trying too hard – and seeks to connect to viewers through the language of painting.
I prefer working on a set of objects that become relational or dialogical to each other. For example, a set of similarly sized paintings, objects made of concrete and paint residues, and a stack of painted foam, will be mixed and remixed until works are complete. Pacing, rhythm, exactitude, and multiplicity are used as strategies for production. Some works take a year, while others take minutes. Radical shifts occur in a process that is focused on responding to materials and investigating their physical properties to draw out various aesthetic experiences.
I set up my studio as a laboratory for experimentation, making sure that various colored and textured fabrics, paints, images cut from magazines, and found objects are available. Materially, I am attracted to items of the everyday, juxtaposing paint with industrial foam, sewn forms, or cardboard. Formal strategies include analysis of painting techniques and materials – color, texture, deconstruction, scale, and spatial relationships. My process is a calculated balance between intentional production, provisional actions, and allowing for the unexpected to occur as a result of these methods.
Personal narrative and metaphor are brought together with process in order to create a visceral experience for the viewer. Forms are inspired by partial memories, and find reference points in non-objective painting movements such as Nue Wilde in Germany, Arte Povera, Constructivism, Minimalism, and craft arts. Inspiration from my life comes from relationships with and between family members and those closest to me – estrangement, separation, security, and love are explored materially and metaphorically. Source materials for these narratives come from mythology, pop culture, and physical materials like text messages or clothing.
I combine process, personal narrative, and metaphor to create abstract works that favor emotional intelligence over logic, and remain conceptually and formally in multiple places at once, creating ambiguity for the viewer. My work succeeds when the viewer embodies this uncertainty, causing a range of reactions that delight, frustrate, or provide escape into the imagination.
Selected Resume
EDUCATION
Master of Fine Arts / Washington University in St. Louis / 2011/ St. Louis, MO / Mr. and Mrs. Spencer T. Olin Fellows / Magna cum laude
Bachelor of Fine Arts / University of Denver / 2007/ Denver, CO / Painting and Drawing / Summa cum laude
EXHIBITIONS
2016
Upcoming (January 2016), The Clothesline, St. Louis, MO
2015
Upcoming (November 2015), Drew Henry Gallery, St. Louis, MO
Talk For An Hour, Des Lee Gallery, St. Louis, MO
2014
Pictorial / Sculptural, Contemporary Gallery, St. Louis Community College, St. Louis, MO
Who does she think she is?, St. Louis Community College, St. Louis, MO
2013
Open Studio, Enamel Art Space, St. Louis, MO
Faculty Exhibition, Contemporary Gallery, St. Louis Community College, St. Louis, MO
2012
Something Happened, The Luminary Center for the Arts, St. Louis, MO
2011
HOLLERLUJAH!, Nebula CoWorking, St. Louis, MO
Among Friends, The St. Louis Artist Guild, St. Louis, MO
Frequencies: a genealogy of spirituality, a Digital Compendium by the Social Science Research Council, Brooklyn, NY
Absences and Obsessions, The Craft Alliance in Grand Center, St. Louis, MO
WTFMFA Satellite Show, The Lemp Brewery, St. Louis, MO
MFA Thesis Exhibition, The Kemper Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO
I breathe. I walk., The St. Louis Artist Guild, St. Louis, MO
2010
The Fox and The Hedgehog, The Des Lee Gallery, St. Louis, MO
Conjuring the World, The Ethical Society of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
Out of Place, Kulturprojekt, Berlin, Germany
to hold the not there and not there and the not there, Paper Boat Studios, Collaboration with artist Kathryn McCullough, St. Louis, MO
1st Year MFA Exhibition, Des Lee Gallery, St. Louis, MO, Spring 2010
Isomorphic Eulogy, The Lewis Center, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
2009
Anniversary Group Show, Pirate Contemporary Art, Denver, CO
2008
Polar, Pirate Contemporary Art, Denver, CO
Fun With More Fun, The Other Side Arts, Denver, CO
Anniversary Group Show, Pirate Contemporary Art, Denver, CO
2007
Annual Artist Show, NOW ArtSpace, Denver, CO
MEAT (Part 1), NOW ArtSpace, Denver, CO
body parts MEAT (Part 2), Pirate Contemporary Art, Denver, CO
BFA Exhibition, Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, Denver, CO
Monumental & Miniature, Gallery 023, Denver, CO
RESIDENCIES & FELLOWSHIPS
Creative Community Fellowship with National Art Strategies, Norfolk, CT, July 2015
FLOAT with Radical Intention and The Luminary, Black, MO, August 2014
The Luminary Center for the Arts / Artist in Residence, St. Louis, MO, April - July 2012
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