Christine Garvey

Madonna and Child - Red and Blue

Mixed media on paper

“I’m interested in ideas of ruin. I draw as a way to process my experience of the body’s failings and vulnerabilities. My recent work deals with my anxieties around motherhood—the transformation of flesh, the violence of birth, and the parasitic demands of the newborn. When I experience this kind of anxiety, I seek out art history. I look for how this experience has been digested and represented by artists before me. I draw what I see. I copy, process, and re-imagine.

“My recent work takes cues from Renaissance painting: Parmigianino’s The Madonna with the Long Neck, Artemisia Gentileschi’s Mother and Child, and others. It’s through re-interpreting images of femininity and motherhood from classical painting that I find my own definitions. I come to terms with the complexity of these experiences: the violence, humor, pleasure, and absurdity of living in a body and of being a woman.”

— Christine Garvey

About the artist

Christine Garvey

Christine Garvey is an artist based in Austin, TX. Her paintings and installations have been exhibited internationally, including exhibitions with Galerie Circulaire (Montreal), Sur La Montagne Galerie (Berlin), Jules Maidoff Gallery (Florence), International Print Center (New York), and MASS Gallery (Austin).

Garvey’s work has been recognized with a Fulbright Research Grant (2016), a City of Austin Community Initiatives Grant (2019) and a Fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center (2020). She's taught at the University of Texas at Austin, School of The Art Institute of Chicago, and Pioneer Works Center for Art and Innovation.

She writes and speaks about ideas that impact contemporary artists, including scarcity, endurance, and financial stability. Her work has been featured at Big Medium’s Creative Standard, Brooklyn Magazine, and The Creative Independent.