ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is made from life. I arrange things gathered from my home, studio, and work spaces, pointing to the intersections and negotiations I move through as a mother, artist, and educator. At the same time, I make paintings about painting. I depict the site of the studio and reference the medium’s vast history as I consider my place within its continuum. Historically, still life has been the least celebrated genre, and this feels familiar. I see powerful potential in and kinship with the underestimated and overlooked.
I think of observational painting as durational, marking time but also collapsing and condensing many days spent looking. In essence, the paintings are records of my experience of seeing but also a kind of fiction. Resemblance is important but not the only thing that matters. As the work unfolds slowly over time, I aim to achieve a sense of presence that reflects something of my subjects through these studio encounters.
Working from life demands time and quietude that feels especially hard-won, like swimming against our cultural tide. I feel the contradiction between the futility of and necessity for painting at this moment. And yet, through nourishing periods of focused observation, I have allowed myself time to slow down, look closely, and interpret the experience of noticing through painting. I indulge in assertive color, haptic surface, and sensual gesture. I hope the work feels human and familiar, serving as defiant acts of care and attention.
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BIO
Christina Renfer Vogel holds an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and a BFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University. Rooted firmly in perceptual painting, her work reflects direct encounters and everyday exchanges. Recent still life paintings explore intersections between work, life, and the studio. She has been featured in solo exhibitions at Spalding Nix Fine Art (Atlanta, GA) and the David Lusk Gallery (Nashville, TN), and her work was included in the 2021 Atlanta Biennial at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center (Atlanta, GA). Vogel’s work has been shown at the Asheville Art Museum (Asheville, NC), LABspace (Hillsdale, NY), and The Painting Center (New York, NY). She has participated in artist residencies including the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (Amherst, VA), and JSS in Civita (Civita Castellana, Italy). Vogel’s work has been featured in New American Paintings, and she is a recipient of an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant and a Lighton International Artists Exchange Program grant, among other awards. Vogel serves as a professor of painting and drawing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
My work is made from life. I arrange things gathered from my home, studio, and work spaces, pointing to the intersections and negotiations I move through as a mother, artist, and educator. At the same time, I make paintings about painting. I depict the site of the studio and reference the medium’s vast history as I consider my place within its continuum. Historically, still life has been the least celebrated genre, and this feels familiar. I see powerful potential in and kinship with the underestimated and overlooked.
I think of observational painting as durational, marking time but also collapsing and condensing many days spent looking. In essence, the paintings are records of my experience of seeing but also a kind of fiction. Resemblance is important but not the only thing that matters. As the work unfolds slowly over time, I aim to achieve a sense of presence that reflects something of my subjects through these studio encounters.
Working from life demands time and quietude that feels especially hard-won, like swimming against our cultural tide. I feel the contradiction between the futility of and necessity for painting at this moment. And yet, through nourishing periods of focused observation, I have allowed myself time to slow down, look closely, and interpret the experience of noticing through painting. I indulge in assertive color, haptic surface, and sensual gesture. I hope the work feels human and familiar, serving as defiant acts of care and attention.
___________________________________________________________
BIO
Christina Renfer Vogel holds an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and a BFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University. Rooted firmly in perceptual painting, her work reflects direct encounters and everyday exchanges. Recent still life paintings explore intersections between work, life, and the studio. She has been featured in solo exhibitions at Spalding Nix Fine Art (Atlanta, GA) and the David Lusk Gallery (Nashville, TN), and her work was included in the 2021 Atlanta Biennial at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center (Atlanta, GA). Vogel’s work has been shown at the Asheville Art Museum (Asheville, NC), LABspace (Hillsdale, NY), and The Painting Center (New York, NY). She has participated in artist residencies including the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (Amherst, VA), and JSS in Civita (Civita Castellana, Italy). Vogel’s work has been featured in New American Paintings, and she is a recipient of an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant and a Lighton International Artists Exchange Program grant, among other awards. Vogel serves as a professor of painting and drawing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
