Description
‘Mea Culpa’ by Kristen Margiotta
Artist: Kristen Margiotta
Title: ‘Mea Culpa’
Medium: Mixed media on paper
Dimensions: 4″ x 4″
Framing: Framed in a hand painted and hand distressed black frame with gold undertones (frame size: 7″ x 7″)
Year of Creation: 2024
About the Artwork:
People always ask me where my inspiration comes from for my art. I’m inspired by anything and everything, from the people in my life, my personal experiences, art history, history, the human experience, nature, and so much more. I never want to get trapped as an artist doing one thing, and making these tiny mixed media drawings, often in hand painted / distressed frames is another outlet for me. I love devotional art, specifically the Baroque era. Saints were often depicted looking up, with their eyes raised towards the heavens, usually acknowledging a higher power, or expressing grief, sorrow or repentance. These tiny eye drawings are a nod to that era. There’s also the history of the lovers eyes artwork from the Victorian era. Adding gold leaf is not only beautiful but paying homage to the gilded artworks from the medieval era and later. These tiny drawings are not necessarily a break from painting, but another means of creation and expression. I often feature pearls and pearl tears in my artwork which symbolize beauty after adversity. – Kristen Margiotta
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Kristen Margiotta is a Delaware (USA) based oil painter, artist, and art educator with over 20 years of professional experience.
Her narrative oil paintings combine imagination with a realistic portrayal of her chosen subject matter. Fire, dripping pearl tears, and white lilies are abound in her work, doused in her signature crimson red palette. Themes as transformation, love, and loss, are wound up as powerful amalgamations, birthing beautiful imagery with provocative messages. Her previous body of work focussed on “big eyed” characters in unsettling environments, which also crossed over into published children’s books.
Margiotta takes care in knowing she is continuing the tradition of oil painting, building her works from the ground up, all the way to the framing, which she completes herself. She is by no means trying to reinvent the wheel, but by continuing the tradition of painting, it allows her to become part of the dialogue of the past, trying to connect to the artists she admires, sharing their work with the world, and striving to bring some beauty and joy to others, which we all need. She also understands the importance of sharing her knowledge with her students to carry on the tradition of creating art.
She is also known for her “alla prima” portrait paintings, a time honored tradition of painting models directly from life, with rapid, intentional brush strokes, completed in one session. Her works are found in private collections all over the country as well as abroad, and in collections featuring both animation, realism, dark artworks, and narrative works.
Margiotta currently lives in Newark, Delaware where she works and teaches art privately from her home art studio and travels to exhibit and vend at conventions and expos.