Kristen Sanders -- Mega

Kristen Sanders
Mega, 2023
Arcylic on canvas over wood panel
10 x 8 in.

Referring to her paintings as ‘portraits,’ Sanders seeks to erode binary ontologies between mind and body, object and self, and even life and death. Depicting seashells, flint stone, barnacles, medical mannequins, and lines drawn in the sand, the artist's recent paintings center crevices, cavities and voids in forms that evoke life through its explicit absence. Situating these objects on primordial beach fronts, Sanders posits that exoskeletons, tools, and fossils carry lasting psychic and biological meaning. Kristen Sanders is a St. Paul-based artist whose work charts the boundaries of human consciousness, finding traces of self and intention in the marks, tools, remnants, and images we have left behind.

Sanders received a BA from the University of California, Davis, and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Recent solo exhibitions include Tide/Pool at Dreamsong, Protoself at Asya Geisberg Gallery (New York) and Early Bodies at Kathryn Brennan Gallery (New York). Her paintings have recently been included in group exhibitions at Anthony Gallery (Chicago), The Hole (New York), and Good Mother (Los Angeles). She currently teaches in the Fine Arts department of the University of Minnesota.