Land
scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
LandEscape meets
Natalie Christensen Almost five years ago, I experienced an unplanned move to New Mexico from Kentucky, where I had spent my entire life. This move was coupled with a decision to leave my career as a psychotherapist
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and my professional identity behind. While it was an exciting move, it was also a time of reflection and questioning. Like many artists who come to the Southwest, I was immediately drawn to the light and the surreal qualities it creates in negative space. I began studying the color fields, geometric shapes and juxtapositions created by the light and shadow. The beauty of this environment is clear to most people; however, my interest was to explore the more banal suburban landscapes that may not be noticed by the casual observer and to draw attention to the drama that is missed. I am using symbols and shapes, line and shadow, to present psychological metaphors in the landscape. Closed and open doors, shadows and swimming pools, draw me to a scene as they invite conjecture. My images emphasize what is happening within the frame and invite the viewer to contemplate what is happening outside the edges but cannot be seen. For me, the symbols and spaces speak to a part of the self that is just below the conscious mind, asking to be understood, even integrated. It is a reminder that there is always something there, below the surface of awareness, threatening to reveal something new.
Natalie Christensen
PR
Natalie has shown her work in London, Berlin, New York and Los Angeles. She was one of five invited photographers for “The National 2018: Best of Contemporary Photography” at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and was recently named one of “Ten Photographers to Watch” at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art. Her photographs are in the permanent collections of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and the University of Texas at Tyler. Natalie is represented by Turner Carroll Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Susan Spiritus Gallery in Newport Beach, California, and Galerie Minimal in Berlin, Germany. When Natalie isn’t looking for photos behind forgotten shopping centers you can find her checking her Instagram feed while hiking the mountains around Santa Fe.
An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator landescape@europe.com
Hello Natalie and welcome to LandEscape. Before starting to elaborate
about your artworks, we would suggest that our readers visit https://nataliechristensenphoto.com in order to get a synoptic view of your artistic production. Would you tell us how