KRIS GEHEIM
OIL PAINTINGS
"From the very beginning I perceived life in images, colors, visually".
Kris was born in Kaunas (Lithuania) in 1981. She was brought up without parents, in an orphanage, and when she was two years old, her grandmother took her to her place.
As long as she can remember, in spite of the difficult living conditions, the need to earn her living by working physically when she was a child, she always wanted to paint, and Kris feels that she was born to be an artist.
"I remember that each Sunday I intentionally walked to the city centre, where I could sit on the bench and observe the picture which stays with me until now: the Sunday Mass ends, and well-dressed old ladies wearing their the most beautiful dresses, bead necklaces, polished shiny shoes, with hairdo and red lips decorously go out of the church and then in group go to the nearest café to drink coffee".
Isabelle
120x140 cm
Oil on canvas
When l was painting her l wanted to create something dreamy... let her dreams float like a ship in a big ocean... she overcame big storms....the wind did not blow her away, she adjusted her sails....still full of insecurities behind her smile and her luxurious gown ..unknowns from outside still worry her but she has spirit to overcome anything...
Jacqueline
120x140 cm
Oil on canvas
I love the tradition, history, costumes, decorations, rituals, it's all very feminine, we love beauty, decorating everything, giving the whole some kind of form; but on the other hand, it is a duty, lack of freedom, something that forces us to behave as it should, to hide emotions, chase an ideal.
Now the time seems to have changed, we are free to do whatever we want to do, but this is only an illusion, everything is exactly the same as before, we strive to be perfect, we make plastic surgery, we create an ideal image in social networks, we do our best to show that everything is wonderful for us, again and again we hide our true feelings.
But my paintings show these feelings, and it is very important for me to say: at any time, in any era, we, the women, are the same; we are chained by tradition, dressy clothes, norms, but it is impossible to escape from the emotions and they still will show up in our eyes.
Collete
120x140 cm
Oil on canvas
SOLD
When l was painting her l was facing storms in my life ...and needed to find power to overcome that storms..and to prove myself brave when they think l am weak...l faced big challenges..but l found strenght..l wanted to give that energy to her...
This girl is someone I imagine to exist...she has a strong will and independent , she is kind of queen that knows her crown isn't on her head but in her soul.....
Margo
80x120 cm
Oil on canvas
She is a dream...she does't exist..she is a moment..when you put the best your dress on and go to face the future..you don't know what is behind those doors...but you are ready to face it with Confidence.....
I do not even remember the sounds, but there, of course, the bells were ringing, shoes were pounding the pavement, old ladies probably were talking to each other. But I did not hear anything because all my senses were busy with soaking this beauty.
But I did not become an artist at once, I chose architecture: I was afraid to become “a starving artist”. I worked at various jobs, was busy as a bee, forever surviving, and I painted only occasionally, just for myself".
And only when Kris was 33 years old and she was seriously ill, she finally had time to think about her life, and she decided that, if she got well, she would devote herself to painting.
"Everybody ask me, why do I paint women?"
Currently it is the main topic for me. Before my illness I somehow never thought of myself as a woman: there was no time, I was too busy with matters of survival. I tried to work well, look good, to be a normal person, because it should be like that. And when I was lying and did not try to do so, because I just did not have enough strength for that, a woman in me received the right to vote, I heard her, and I realized that I had only one way in life – to follow my nature, to paint, and paint about women, to explain for myself and others what we are in real, what is our role in this life.
And here a question of tradition arose: on the one hand, it is breathtakingly beautiful, I love the tradition, history, costumes, decorations, rituals, it's all very feminine, we love beauty, decorating everything, giving the whole some kind of form; but on the other hand, it is a duty, lack of freedom, something that forces us to behave as it should, to hide emotions, chase an ideal.
Now the time seems to have changed, we are free to do whatever we want to do, but this is only an illusion, everything is exactly the same as before, we strive to be perfect, we make plastic surgery, we create an ideal image in social networks, we do our best to show that everything is wonderful for us, again and again we hide our true feelings.
But my paintings show these feelings, and it is very important for me to say: at any time, in any era, we, the women, are the same; we are chained by tradition, dressy clothes, norms, but it is impossible to escape from the emotions and they still will show up in our eyes.
RECEIVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT KRIS GEHEIM
Art Gallery Voûte
Grote Markt 39 A
3111 NH SCHIEDAM
THE NETHERLANDS
Tel + 31 651 922 582
Email: info@artgalleryvoute.com