Cristina Arnedo

For abstract painter Cristina Arnedo, art involves creating the same sense of equilibrium that we constantly strive to achieve our daily lives. Born and based in Mexico City, she likens Mexican culture to a similar balancing act between native and European influences, like her father’s Basque heritage. Accordingly, her mesmerizing abstract expressionist compositions thrive on contrast, both between tones and shapes, and between textures and brushstrokes. She mixes sand and water into her oil paints, creating fields of color that shift unpredictably from smooth to rough and back again.

Each composition features a dominant tone, such as a crisp blue, warm yellow or rich brown, and a prevailing motion; certain pieces seem to be windswept in a diagonal direction while others are circular or more geometrically rigid. Arnedo disrupts these dynamic central shades in two ways: with opaque daubs of color that seem to float up from a lower layer, and with punctuation-like drips. She wrests a superb balance from this confluence of hues and movements.