Venezuelan artist kBlanchard’s kinetically contemporary works break through the two dimensional barriers normally associated with painting, pushing outward as they draw viewers in. kBlanchard’s career began in architecture and a strong sense of structure is still pervasive in her works. Working in mixed media on canvas with a style she calls “deconstructionist abstract expressionism,” this is an artist who explores humanity’s interactions within the urban environments it has created. Polystyrene sheets are applied to the gridded surfaces in richly textured movements and are then engulfed in waves of ethereal color, shattering the works’ rigid pixilation as they blend and breathe beyond the blackness. Enigmatic numbers and text emerge from the thick surfaces, hinting at the codes, demographics and categorizations so pervasive in modern life.
At the heart of kBlanchard’s work is a strong sense of optimism, a smile in the face of adversity as she searches for the soul and identity of the city, a shared sense of community and the influences of globalization on communication.