Feeling safe yet restricted in her own skin, lonely pineapple girl longs for a taste of freedom from the armor that confines her.
Suitably Unsuitable
What is sleep
Alchemy
Possessing a true artist's eye [purchased from a mysterious shaman and kept in her front pocket], Kalina’s work spans the mediums of pen, paint and pixels. Her days as a Junior Creative Director for Funnelbox Production Studios are followed by nights spent creating art and tapping the web for inspiration. ALCHEMY is the result of her most intense melding with the WorldWideWeb yet; “The internet and I have become BFFs throughout the making of this series,” she says. Though the four primary elements are her subjects, Kalina knew from the start that she wanted to explore the human element through personality types, animal totems, and astrological interpretations. “For inspiration and ideas I spent many a time researching weird clipart-heavy astrological websites riddled with animated GIFs created by enthusiastic New Age flower children. [..] the internet is one amazingly strange place.”
From her elemental guardians, she extended her work by asking the question, “How do we interact with these elements? Through the senses!” And so were born, in the beer-fueled haze of the creative process, the humorous minions. From these playful characters to her regal mistresses, Kalina was influenced by human personalities and how they shape one's reactions to and dealings with the environment around them. She was fascinated by the idea that life is full of gradients despite all of the black and white misconceptions that exist. The many layers of qualities and flaws that compose a person are often overlooked by surface perceptions. This is reflected in her feelings about art in general: “I love something that is clean, vector almost, but, when you get up-close, is actually natural, hand-drawn, not quite perfect [because I don’t believe in perfection]”. And what better way to bring human imperfection to the pure elements than through the transformative powers of ALCHEMY.
Kalina graduated from the Art Institute of Portland with a B.S. in Media Arts & Animation. During her studies she became more perceptive to people’s personalities and developed a love for characterization. It really clicked for her while sitting in the far back reaches of the classroom practicing a failed attempt at mouth-reading an inaudible instructor. Her pencil began to wander along with her imagination and before her eyes a character emerged in her sketchbook: her instructor…in a lobster suit. One of many to be developed in her first illustration series involving characters in suits.
The Senses
This series is a continuation of the Alchemy set.
From the elemental guardians (Earth, Wind, Fire, Air), Kalina extended her work by asking the question, “How do we interact with these elements? Through the senses!” And so were born the humorous minions. From these playful characters to her regal mistresses, Kalina was influenced by human personalities and how they shape one's reactions to and dealings with the environment around them. She was fascinated by the idea that life is full of gradients despite all of the black and white misconceptions that exist. The many layers of qualities and flaws that compose a person are often overlooked by surface perceptions.
This show’s theme was character-driven, as per usual, exploring unique underwater oddities. I had a lot of fun learning about and reinterpreting them with my typical anthropomorphic flare.
I find the world under water to be utterly fascinating. It amazes me that the things we find below the surface exist on the same planet. I eagerly await the next discovery from the deep; we've probably barely scratched the surface.
Toaded Evolution
From the young and bewildered era, to the dorky teens and goth phases, to the melancholy age and the age of contentment, we follow this little toad girl through various awkward stages of life.
This series was painted with acrylic on wood panels for the Subaqueous solo show.
