July 09, 2024

Dive Deeper: The MADRAS Collection

Kristin Shearer is a contemporary abstract artist living and creating in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, young son, and rescue pup aka studio assistant.

Believing color is its own language, her work seeks to explore our understanding of how we see and engage with color in our world. Each piece uses a carefully selected palette to challenge the eye's perception of hue and interaction. Kristin's work uses bold color and shape to create a moment in time that visually expresses an emotion.

Fascinated by interior design and the relationships people enjoy with the spaces they thrive in, Kristin aims to create pieces that feel personal and intentional in the homes they find.

The MADRAS Collection was born out of an intense rush of nostalgia as I was on hot morning run: a song came on that instantly transported me back to the first summer I had my driver's license. It was an intense burst of freedom and optimism and I thought back to that summer of driving everywhere with the windows down, and then all my favorite summers after, and wanted to capture those vivid memories in color.

I grew up in a small town in Georgia. My first job was on a gas dock on the lake and I was there from sun-up to sun down. It was a summer of tanning with friends and flirting with boys from different schools, and having money to spend on my first concert tickets - it was the most independence I'd ever had and everything during that period of your life takes place in technicolor and the memories come rushing back with a soundtrack. It washed over me in waves of color. The bright J. Crew bikinis I wore at the lake, my 1st car (a very, very old tank of a baby blue Mercedes), the colors of the sunrise at the dock when all was quiet.

As I reflected on all my favorite summers, I realized each of my memories was tinted bright and vivid, almost like the color was oversaturated and the volume of life was just turned all the way up. So while I gathered inspiration and sketched and painted this collection, I listened to my favorite summer songs constantly, not just in the studio but in the car and while making dinner, so that the feeling of freedom and bright big color would soak into every memory we are making this summer. And now my son has learned all the words to some of those songs and I realized I'm making big, bright, vivid memories for him too this summer. I am so grateful that I have captured sweet, nostalgic moments in time on canvas to share with the world and I hope they bring you immense joy!