"The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity."
Alberto Giacometti
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About
10th Street Studio promotes and showcases the work of Karen Clarkson, contemporary artist. All works on this site are for sale unless otherwise stated.

Artist Statement
My paintings investigate the quiet tension between structure and perception. Working with saturated fields of color, softened geometry, and carefully measured spatial relationships, I create environments that exist somewhere between architecture, memory, and emotion.
Rather than depicting a place, each composition constructs one. Curved forms press against rigid planes, edges dissolve into luminous gradients, and familiar geometric language begins to behave in unexpected ways. These subtle shifts invite viewers to slow down and experience how balance, proportion, and color shape our perception of space.
Influenced by architecture and the reductive language of Minimalism and Color Field painting, I seek clarity through restraint. Every line, edge, and field of color is intentional. Large areas of uninterrupted color create moments of stillness, while precise geometric relationships introduce rhythm, tension, and momovement.
I am fascinated by the point where geometry ceases to feel mechanical and begins to feel human. My paintings are not landscapes or architectural renderings; they are psychological spaces and constructed environments where color carries emotional weight and simplicity reveals increasing complexity the longer one looks.
By reducing visual language to its essential elements, I encourage contemplation rather than conclusion. My work asks viewers to slow down, to inhabit the space between certainty and ambiguity, and to discover how the simplest forms can evoke memory, emotion, and
quiet wonder.
