Abby Kasonik is an American painter born in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

in 1975. Kasonik attended

Stuart Hall School Stuart Hall School is a Staunton, Virginia, co-educational school for students from Grade 4 to Grade 12, and it offers a boarding program from Grades 8 to 12. Stuart Hall School was established in 1827. The head of the school is Jason Coady. In ...

in Staunton, Virginia and completed her studies at

VCU School of the Arts Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts (also referred to as VCU School of the Arts or simply VCUarts) is a public non-profit art and design school located in Richmond, Virginia. One of many degree-offering schools at VCU, the Schoo ...

with a degree in

Sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. “Charlottesville artist Abby Kasonik has quickly established a reputation around the country for her sublimely meditative paintings.” Her work tends towards enigmatic shadowy figures on a low horizon line, isolated and indistinct, as if seen through a dense fog, or heavy mist. Thin washes of color produce a veil of thick and thin drips, giving solidarity to the atmospheric space. Her paintings are “From the abstract to distinct, each painting utilizes... contemplative colors to create dreamlike vignettes.” Over time, and with atmospheric changes in light, paintings reveal subtle shifts in color and tone. A result of the many layers of

underpainting In art, an underpainting is an initial layer of paint applied to a ground, which serves as a base for subsequent layers of paint. Underpaintings are often monochromatic and help to define color values for later painting. Underpainting gets its name ...

overpainting Overpainting is the final layers of paint, over some type of underpainting, in a system of working in layers. It can also refer to later paint added by restorers, or an artist or dealer wishing to "improve" or update an old image—a very common ...

and glazes, this is the work's unique quality of depth. Depth is a key element in the pieces, as Kasonik plays with pictorial depth in the

visual field The visual field is the "spatial array of visual sensations available to observation in introspectionist psychological experiments". Or simply, visual field can be defined as the entire area that can be seen when an eye is fixed straight at a point ...

of each painting. Her paintings offer the familiar landscape, but present it as confounding and quixotic, such that the viewer may never clearly define the narrative. Kasonik’s “terrains are devoid of life. Man made objects may be present, a railroad track or fence posts, but nothing animate moves; nothing grows.” Her body of work “emphasizes the infinity of space and engenders a sense of contemplative peace.”…" So exaggerated that it keeps the paintings from being mere derivative iterations of traditional landscape.” Kasonik's paintings are inspired by water and science; her “over-sized paintings feature layers of acrylic paint on canvas in evocative shades of blues and grays.” “Drawn to

aquariums An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, a ...

, Abby's work is heavily influenced by water and dimension. From the abstract to distinct, each painting utilizes calming contemplative colors to create dreamlike vignettes. Her process, which entails various and repetitive coats of acrylic paint and water, is incredibly laborious.” Kasonik continues to create and show her art throughout the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasonik, Abby 1975 births Living people Painters from Virginia American women painters American landscape painters Virginia Commonwealth University alumni People from Charlottesville, Virginia 21st-century American women artists 21st-century American painters