16 February 2022 (New Orleans, LA) JONATHAN FERRARA GALLERY proudly presents the first solo exhibition of Dallas-based artist KRISTIN MOORE entitled All Those Who Wander. In this suite of eleven new paintings, Moore explores themes of wanderlust and memory. By bringing us on a visual road trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, we see the artist’s unique perspective of the sprawling landscapes and unique architectural elements of the American Southwest. Moore’s use of negative space draws viewers into the architectural scenery she has so meticulously replicated.

This exhibition reflects a shift to new subject matter as well as a new artistic chapter that has been evolving within her work over the last two years. Moore’s process has progressed to become larger in scale, and more delicate in detail. This series of paintings offer trompe l'oeil moments in combination with gestural brush stokes that reveal the artist’s hand. With a more increased focus on architectural elements, this exhibition amplifies features that were often muted in her earlier landscapes.

With the exhibition title All Those Who Wander, Moore is leaving an option for the viewer to place themselves in the wanderlust narrative, or to observe it from afar. Moore says of the exhibition, “We have a collective desire to explore and, in turn, we often daydream about our travels. This creates a dream-like quality to our memories which results in a romanticized narrative within our minds. The reality of a place often doesn’t matter, it is the memory of our experience there that sticks with us. We often like to sit a little longer with the most romantic and the most opulent visuals we have in our minds.”

Beginning with Los Angeles noir, the viewer is introduced to old Hollywood architecture blended with images reflecting the known edginess of the city. Familiar Hollywood landmarks are explored in a new light, and we are left with a subtle sense of nostalgia as the viewer moves through the works. Moore explains, “The bright desert landscapes lead into the “in between”; these are the lands that are on the way to somewhere else. Just as important as the beginning or the end, the transitional parts of a road trip often leave space for the most enriching moments of pause and reflection. The series finds a finishing point with the bright, opulent Neon Boneyard at the Neon Museum in Las Vegas. The Neon Boneyard is a constructed landscape glittering with Las Vegas history and iconography, opening an expanded conversation outside my characteristic depictions of Texas and California landscapes . . . wandering into a new visual narrative.”

The exhibition will be on view from 16 February to 26 March 2022, with an opening reception coinciding with the Arts District of New Orleans’ (ADNO) First Saturday Gallery Openings from 5-8 PM on 5 March.

For more information, press or sales inquiries please contact Gallery Director Matthew Weldon Showman at 504.343.6827 or matthew@jonathanferraragallery.com. Please join the conversation with JFG on Facebook (@JonathanFerraraGallery), Twitter (@JFerraraGallery), and Instagram (@JonathanFerraraGallery) via the hashtags: #KristinMoore, #AllThoseWhoWander, #JonathanFerraraGallery, and #ArtsDistrictNewOrleans.

KRISTIN MOORE, a native Texan, completed her MFA at Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles in 2016. She has been named one of Saatchi Art’s 20 Artists To Watch in 2020, and a top 10 finalist in the New Western Talent juried exhibition with Western Gallery. Kristin’s paintings can be found in collections across the U.S. and Europe. Her work has been shown at The Other Art Fair in Dallas, and in group exhibitions with Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, and SHOWFIELDS New York (curated by The Jealous Curator). She has had solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, Austin, and Lockhart. Kristin currently lives and works in Dallas, TX and is a studio artist at The Cedars Union.

While living in LA working on her MFA, Kristin began to consider the human experience in relation to location as a reference for her work, and she also fell in love with film. The Hollywood nostalgia prevalent all over Los Angeles became a launching pad for her cinematic view of the landscape around her. She began to consider the way we experience films, and approached art making the same way. While at Otis College of Art + Design, she worked with a team of amazing professors (all artists themselves), who always encouraged her to look outside the studio for inspiration. During one studio visit in particular, Kristin was encouraged to visit Kenneth Hahn Park in Culver City for reference photos. It is that first trip to Kenneth Hahn that changed the way she painted moving forward. The smog blanketing the cityscape of LA from such a high point created an atmosphere she couldn’t paint enough of. Kristin began a series of what she called “smog paintings” that explored the cloudy atmosphere of LA at different angles and times of day attempting to recreate the aura of the sprawling city. This practice evolved into the landscape work Kristin creates today. 

Her love for capturing the aura of a location through painting was amplified when she first visited Marfa,TX. While living in LA, Kristin often would travel to and from Austin in-between semesters. Marfa became a transitional pitstop for her to shake off the edginess of LA and take a breath in the open landscape of West Texas. “Being in the landscape of West Texas is almost like visiting another planet. You can see for miles and miles with no building in sight; the landscape slows down time and calms your mind.” - Kristin on Marfa.

Upon moving back to Texas from California in 2016, Kristin continued exploring the landscapes and highways around her through painting. The experience of living outside her home state had sparked a sense of wanderlust into Kristin’s work; a longing for endless landscapes and wild sunsets was juxtaposed by a desire to capture Americana and architecture of the cities around her. Today, Kristin’s work continues to oscillate between the landscapes of California and Texas, with a continued expansion to the Western U.S.