Empty outdoor swimming pool at night, with trees, cityscape, and lake in background

The Absence of Water

East Gallery
September 12, 2016
to
October 31, 2016
Curator:
Nicole Sirek Watson
Artist:
Kristie Bretzke
Reception:

Saturday, September 17, 6 – 8 p.m.

All events are free and open to the public

Minneapolis painter Kristie Bretzke explores an unusual element of the built environment: empty pools. Evoking feelings of tension and nostalgia, Bretzke’s hauntingly beautiful poolscapes also call to mind modern American society’s expectations about water’s pureness and abundance. Her paintings invite the viewer to go beyond the surface and contemplate the complexities of the missing element in her compositions ... water.


Artist Kristie Bretzke seated by wall of paintings
BIOGRAPHY

Kristie Bretzke

Kristie Bretzke received her B.F.A. degree from the University of Minnesota where she studied studio art and art history. Bretzke’s work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including shows at Winfield Gallery in Carmel, California and the Kaiping Art Museum in Kaiping, China. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Centre D’Art (2012), in Marnaysur-Seine, France; Palazzo Rinaldi (2012), in Noepoli, Italy; and the Kunstlerhaus (2010), in Salzburg, Austria. Bretzke is an artist-member of the Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art, a prominent artist cooperative located in the historic Warehouse District of downtown Minneapolis, where she maintains her painting studio.