Christine Flynn
Christine Flynn is an artist living in Toronto working in photography and mixed media. Flynn is known for her landscape photography imbued with abstract elements, creating works of art that exist in between two mediums. In doing so, Flynn elevates the potential of what it means to be a contemporary photographer. The relationship between the photograph and abstract elements is nuanced: the abstractions do not distract from the photograph, but instead appear as if they are part of the image, enhancing it and adding depth.
The abstract elements in Flynn’s work are applied by hand—coats of paint and gold leaf are layered on top of an image —to create a photograph with the texture of a painting. Finished with a coat of high-gloss resin, the work is simultaneously contemporary and nostalgic.
Flynn composes images that hinge on nostalgia to ground the viewer. With the advent of Instagram, we have become inundated with travel photographs that are aspirational. Flynn's art pushes against the genre of travel photography whose purpose is to create envy and instead allows the viewer to access a feeling of recognition or belonging in a place they’ve never been. She presents photographs that embody the memory of a place, rather than a straight-forward depiction.
For her most recent exhibition at Parts Gallery, Flynn focussed on curating a show revolving around a single theme: the ocean. "SURF" brings together a collection of photographs from various places that Flynn has traveled to, with the ocean as the defining element. Walking through the show each geographic place becomes indistinguishable from one another, and a feeling of being next to the ocean emerges.
Christine Flynn received her BFA from Houghton College, western New York State in 1994. During her studies, Flynn focused on an intensive fine art photography practice. Her work has been exhibited extensively in galleries in Canada, the U.S. and Internationally. Since her first solo show at Pulse Contemporary Art Fair in New York, Flynn's work has been widely exhibited in North America at art fairs such as Context Art Miami, Scope, New York, Art Hamptons as well as solo shows in Boston, New York and Toronto galleries. Internationally, her work has been shown at major art fairs in London, Paris, Brussels, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Hamburg.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
Parts Gallery
Artima · Paris2017
Artima · London
Fortune Gallery · Victoria2016
Au Gold Gallery
Envie D'Art2015
Parts Gallery
Au Gold Gallery
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017
Parts Gallery2015
Envie D'Art2014
Au Gold Gallery
ART FAIRS
2018
AAF Hong Kong
AAF London
AAF Hamptons2017
AAF Hamburg
AAF Amsterdam
AAF London
AAF Stockholm
AAF NYC
AAF Hong Kong2016
AAF Hong Kong
AAF New York
AAF Brussels2015
AAF Hamburg
Love Art · Toronto2014
Art Toronto
Love Art Fair · Toronto
AAF New York
AAF London2013
Context · Miami
Boston Art Show
John Houshmand Projects · New York
Art Hamptons
Pulse Art Fair · New York
Scope Art Show · New York