NYC

"Kristina is among the most celebrated young contemporary, abstract artists and we are delighted to showcase her paintings. Born in Sweden, based in Berlin, Germany she has exhibited her artwork worldwide. Her paintings are awarded and recognized for their vibrant and colorful natural images, designed to radiate a sense of light, sensuality, beauty and vitality. Kristina's paintings were so well received during the first exhibit, we are thrilled to have her back for this latest showing.“

Karen Gastiaburo, Senior Vice President of Warburg Realty Ltd., 2013, NYC, USA

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„... With the same intensity and burning passion, Kristina Sretkova’s illuminated works stake a claim for the romantic impulse in an impressive manner. Oil paint, in all its thick viscosity, is presented as a visual feast for the eyes. Sretkova piles it on thickly, with grand sweeping gestures that are both sensual and delicate. In the center of her new works one notices a refulgent, glowing light that grows with intensity as we approach the center. It is evidence of a rich interior world, drawing us into the subjectivity of the artist and simultaneously the canvas.

...These exciting new approaches in abstraction posit Sretkova well at the fore of contemporary European painting.“

NY Arts Magazine, Summer 2011, Jill Smith, Catch a Fire: Kristina Sretkova's New Paintings

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„... Romanticism has exerted a powerful hold on Western thought and culture. And it makes perfect sense that an artist as cosmopolitan, well traveled, and talented as Sretkova has picked up on its resurgence. As Western culture has entered into a post-industrial and increasingly virtual channels of communication, Romanticism

posits a return to basics. Those basics being preoccupied with articulating the personal experience that becomes, in turn, a representative one. Works like A Wish Comes True (2011) with its deep bluish-black background articulates this experience subjectively. As this work tightens concentrically pulling the viewer towards its center,

we are ourselves centered. This flowerlike motif in the middle is something akin to a self-portrait. Captured in profile this work undulates and into a sweet, mysterious, and somewhat melancholy “head” that seems to appear quietly from a lush background. As this work rears its metaphorical head, we also hear it speak in the sensual, sultry voice of peace.

With marked simplicity, Sretkova has created a new lyrical abstraction, which references emotional states of mind, states of being.“

NY Arts Magazine, Rose Hobart, Winter 2012, Kristina Sretkova: World of Light Review

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„KRISTINA SRETKOVA’s over-sized canvases envelope viewers with voluminous gem-colored forms that delicately ascend the abstract compositions through her layered brushwork and textured application. ... Ms. Sretkova inspires viewers with her colorfield paintings, enacting ample emotions through her energetic colors and gestural brushwork.“

Ruthie Tucker, Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, 20. October 2012, NYC, USA

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„Of all of the shows taking place in New York City this year Sretkova’s work set the bar for abstraction in the 21st century. For her, color is vibrant, color is light, color is a mystical experience.“

NY ARTS Magazine, Rose Hobert, Winter 2012, New York City/USA

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„Kristina Sretkova is a hot, accomplished young painter. ... Some of her paintings carry the fast, bombastic nature of a Mozart allegro others carry the sweet, melancholy refrain of a Chopin nocturne. ... This is most easily seen in works like My Heart, (Oil on Canvas, 100x100cm, 2010). Bisecting the canvas at a diagonal, an aorta-like shape is captured in cerulean blues, bright yellows, rose reds, and deep black. It is suspended and dangling in the center, surrounded by a smoky, deep blue-black field. The heart shape is an amorphous amalgamation of impasto swirls deftly applied and overlapping like flower petals in bloom. The central form functions as a gateway to Sretkova’s

subjectivity. She disarms us with the wistful, organic paint handling and invites us into an inner-world of mesmerizing beauty. Her work shares an affinity with the other highly influential, abstract painters. She is the contemporary bridge between the sublime, evocative vegetative imagery of Georgia O’Keefe and the gestural,

heroism of Cy Twombly. This work in particular is reminiscent of Twombly’s Peony Blossom Paintings series.“

NY ARTS Magazine, Spring 2011, Abraham Lubelski, New York City/USA