Karyn Denten
My work explores the tension between bold action and quiet reflection. Each painting begins with a series of intuitive gestures—marks, layers, and color fields—that evolve through a process of addition and removal. Scraping back reveals traces of what came before, much like the layers of a lived experience.
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Selected Works
Biography
Karyn earned her BFA in Visual Communications and built a career as a graphic designer for over 20 years in Southern California and Chicago.
Her background in design brings a sense of composition and structure to her expressive paintings. In her abstract art, Karyn’s marks and brush strokes represent the bold, messy leaps we take toward our aspirations, while the color blocks capture those quiet moments of contemplation along the way.
Karyn’s process involves layering colors, mark-making and scraping back sections to expose what lies beneath. She relates seeing the other layers peaking through much like the way we share fragments of our stories with the world: what we choose to share, what remains hidden.
Through this process, her paintings become more than compositions of color and form; they are reflections of authenticity and vulnerability.
Artist Statement
My work explores the tension between bold action and quiet reflection. Each painting begins with a series of intuitive gestures—marks, layers, and color fields—that evolve through a process of addition and removal. Scraping back reveals traces of what came before, much like the layers of a lived experience. I’m interested in the fragments we share and the ones we hold back, and how those choices shape our narratives. My paintings are not just visual expressions, but records of movement, emotion, and becoming.