Kristina Girke raised in Germany. She worked in Berlin for almost 30 years and is currently living on Bowen Island close to Vancouver, Canada. In her art she is dealing with an artistic form of the “Palimpsest”. The term “Palimpsest” is used to describe a parchment, a manuscript or in the case of Girke a canvas that through scraping and washing imbues a new meaning.

Coming and going find a synergy. On large format canvases every layer is even more apparent. Selective removal of the surface, experienced and forgotten time periods are then carefully revealed. Here the artist takes on the methodology of an archaeologist. Thus events, occurrences from our collective memory reappear as metaphors in Kristina Girke’s work. These are metaphors for the passing time. The final  layer of paint is a brilliant, color spectrum, that flows through the present. It is vibrant and in motion.