"Rihanna" Painting

Christy Powers is a New York based artist. She received a BA at Sarah Lawrence College and then went on to earn an MA with distinction from the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at the Bronx Museum, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Queen Victoria Museum,The Art Gallery of Ballarat, Marloe Gallery, AHA Fine Art, CAMP Gallery, Ro2 Gallery, Giacobetti Paul Gallery, White Box and Jarsbro Art amongst many others. She has participated in residencies at ILIRI in the Australian Outback as well as the AIM program at the Bronx Museum.

My work investigates two concepts, one being the role that photography plays in memory and the second being the relationship between painting and photography. By painting images from photographs of my own life--as well as the lives of friends, family and strangers--I create memories that exist in a space between reality and fiction. I remove details, change the colors within the image and blur and distort the figures so that the viewer can project their own memory and images onto the piece.

I enjoy capturing this ephemeral and impermanent moment in my paintings. I depict the ‘just-out-of-reach’ feeling in memory where some details remain sharp yet others blur and disappear.