Artist Statement
My work is personal, intense, emotional, violent and familiar. As a plus size woman with an eating disorder, I use performance and installation to de(con)struct the self as it is viewed through the lens of American consumer culture.
My performance and documentary work draws inspiration from Feminist artists whose biographical focus on identity informed their art. I frequently cite artists like Lynn Hershman Leeson, Hannah Wilke, and Eleanor Antin as touchstones.
I use children's toys, mannequins, family photos, my Second Life persona and conceptual social practice projects to investigate, document and challenge personal and universal values of self and society.
The process of documenting my life and being vulnerable and brave through performance is the art.
BIO
Kristine Schomaker is a multidisciplinary artist, art historian, publisher and mentor living and working at the Brewery artist complex in Los Angeles, California. She earned her BA in Art History and MA in Studio Art from California State University at Northridge where she studied under Betty Ann Brown and Samantha Fields. In 2014 Kristine founded Shoebox PR, a support network that focuses on creating community and offering mentorship and resources to artists.
Kristine is also the publisher of Art and Cake a contemporary L.A. Art Magazine focusing on underrepresented artists and exhibitions. Kristine has taught art history at Antelope Valley College and Pasadena City College, formed an artist collective in Los Angeles and has organized and curated numerous art exhibitions throughout Southern California. Kristine sits on two non-profit art boards: CSUN Arts Alumni Association and the Brewery Artwalk Association.
Exhibiting her work since the late 1990’s, Kristine has been featured in numerous exhibitions including most recently, group shows at Golden West College, Coastline Community College, Keystone Art Space, LAVA Projects, San Diego Art Institute, Launch LA, Surrogate Projects, 18th Street Art Center, Durden and Ray, USC Keck, Blue Roof Studios, Monte Vista Proejcts, Finishing Concepts, PØST, Brainworks Gallery, BLAM, MuseuMM; Torrance Art Museum, I-5 Gallery, Angel City Brewery. She has also had these solo exhibitions: “Plus” at Ark Gallery in Altadena and Moorpark Community College, “Mirror, Mirror!” Gallery H Phantom Galleries LA, Hawthorne, California, “A Comfortable Skin,” Kerckhoff Hall Art Gallery UCLA, presented by UCLA Cultural Arts Commission, Los Angeles, California and “Ce n’est pas une peinture,” TRACTIONARTS, Los Angeles, California.