Exploring The Surrealist Imagery Of Painter Katrin Alvarez
Katrin Alvarez was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, in 1944. Her earliest influence was most likely her mother, who was an architect, but worked as a teacher. Katrin went to law school at the University Of Cologne. Her first job was as a journalist where she began writing a high psychological profile piece called “Studentin S”. Katrin’s artistic career took off in 1976 after a magazine cover featured a portrait she’d done on Lilli Palmer. Alvarez’s style covers a surrealist perspective with a bit of the modernist abstract approach added for flavor. Her main medium is oil paints, and her pieces provide a very unique glimpse into her interests of nature and humanity.
Katrin is influenced by the soft, natural colors of life. The images in her paintings seem a bit misty, like a dream. They are suspended placing the viewer in a state of hypnosis, much like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. The colors Alvarez uses are subtle, pale hues that work just as well when placed against a light background as they do with a dark one. Her approach to subject matter seems to focus on people and socialism. With the big question being “What are we thinking?”