Comfort
by Kerry Krenzin
Kerry Krenzin, Comfort, graphite, acrylic, and India ink on underside of found wooden tabletop, 25 x 25 inches, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.
COMFORT
KERRY KRENZIN | MAR 2023 | Issue 22
My work is wholly and purely an expression of my inward world. It’s extremely personal. It's how I process and communicate my feelings, experiences, struggles, desires, observations, big and small. I've worked in all mediums, but mostly with mixed media and found objects, as of late. There is an essence and memory in every object that I find sexy and intriguing. Weaving that into an expression of my own is endlessly gratifying. I love finding something someone has thrown out and turning it into something beautiful. Trash into treasure.
I'm inundated by ideas every day, and when I get one that won't leave me alone, I know it has to be birthed. My process is very hands-on and often messy. I almost always work with my pieces flat on the floor. If the piece is not flat on the floor, then my ass is. I like sitting on the ground (closer to the earth?).
I can't not create art—those ideas that won't leave me alone! It's a need. Also, as a queer woman who grew up in a very religious household, I often felt not able to be myself or speak my truth. My work is my way of showing all of myself to the world.
I’m currently working on the largest piece I've ever done: a mixed-media diptych, 10-12 ft. across, of sticks (all gathered on hikes), artificial sinew, canvas, and cardboard. My hands are bloodied and bruised, but I'm very excited to reach the finish line with it!
Kerry Krenzin is a self-taught Los Angeles based artist. Her work, most often composed with non-conventional media and found objects, speaks to her very personal inner journey of Voice: the push and pull to express or not to express in the face of oppressive institutional and familial systems.