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Krysten Cunningham


















Color pencil and graphite on paper
9” x 12” 
2020-2024


















Informances


The Informances are an ongoing series of participatory artworks based on the structures of weaving. They fuse together ideas of conceptual art, craft and  therapeutics through a set of guided experiences. During an Informance participants explore their external tactile and visual experiences while considering their interior thoughts and feelings. The experimental exercises help build connections between participants. The Informances are inspired by Francine Shapiro’s ground breaking trauma therapies of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing), Fluxus Art and the Brazilian Neo–concrete artists of the 1950s and ’60s who rejected pure forms of geometric abstraction for more sensorial methods of art making.

The first Informance, created in 2013 for an exhibition at the Pomona College Museum of Art, was based on interpreting the position of the viewer in Herman Minkowski's model of space/time and special relativity.  In the Human Loom participants use a set of soft, colorful bands to problem solve the construction of geometric shapes within a group setting. The Human Loom was designed for an event at the UCLA Hammer for the exhibition “Look Before You Leap, Black Mountain College 1933-1957” in 2016 and most recently performed at Shannon Farm, in central Virginia, June of 2024. In the Textagraph Informance, 2016-18, participants interact with a set of giant hand-woven fleece potholders. These were initially created for an exhibition at the Crisp Ellert Art Museum in St. Augustine Fl. in 2016.  I developed Human Luminescence, while undergoing EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) therapy in 2018-19. These Informances integrate woven matts, ultraviolet light and fluorescent bands into explorative exercises that are inspired by the physical processing of my own traumatic experiences. The Informances continue to evolve and grow – balancing new and old technologies, ideas and forms of embodiment.



Ojai Guaches, 2021
Guache on water color paper
8 in x 8 in












Krysten Cunningham lives and works in the vibrant Arlington Heights/West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles where she occasionally organizes exhibitions in her studio/project space called HOUSEHOLD. She holds an MFA in Sculpture from UCLA and a BFA from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. With enthusiasm for creating accessible and interactive art, Krysten has built an extensive exhibition record. Recent solo exhibitions include “Model Shop” at the Window (2025), “Four Constellations” at David Horvitz’s 7th Ave Garden (2022), and “Balls to the Wall” at LADIES” Room LA (2019. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions such as “3D: Double Vision” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2018 - 2019), and exhibited and performed in the Getty Center’s Central Gardens as part of the programming for “Making Art Concrete: Works from Argentina and Brazil in the Collección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros” (2017). Her artwork has traveled internationally with exhibitions at Sies + Höke in Düsseldorf, Ritter/Zamet in London, Daimler Contemporary in Berlin and the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, UK, where she was also a research scholar (2008). Krysten’s dedication to her craft was recognized with a City of Los Angeles Artist Fellowship (2012), and subsequent projects at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College (2013) and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (2014). She has also participated in artist residencies at the HIVE at the Claremont Colleges and Forest Island in Mammoth Lakes, CA. Her first ongoing public artwork can be seen in Los Angeles World Airports Delta Terminal 2 (Departures) and she is currently working on her first international commission for Vivé, Parc Caribéen de la Amérindienne in Martinique. Beyond creating art, Krysten is passionate about teaching. She shares her expertise in drawing, sculpture and design at various colleges across Southern California.



 


Image: CCYoung Studios