Cristina Ghetti is an abstract painter whose work mobilizes the visual languages of Op Art, Geometric Abstraction, and Kinetic Art to explore the intersection of perception and reality.
Born in Argentina, she lives and works in Valencia, Spain.
Ghetti earned her Master of Visual Arts and Multimedia at the Polytechnic University in Valencia, Spain, where she developed a strong interest in working with experts in adjacent fields, such as infomaticians and mathematicians. Her research into the development of new geometries in the visual arts culminated in her doctoral thesis, titled “Post Medial Geometry.”
Ghetti is interested in cross-disciplinary methods and tools. She originates her compositions on the computer, utilizing digital tools to develop images that trick the mind into perceiving things like movement and depth on a two-dimensional, static plane. She then translates her compositions into traditional paintings using acrylic paint on canvas. What is most interesting to her about this process is the perceptual and experiential relationships it uncovers. Digital media allows her to immerse herself within a virtual environment, while the work of translating that virtual image into a material image-object using paint and canvas raises questions about where the line can be drawn between reality and perception.
In the tradition of art historical movements like Concrete Art, Constructivism, Kinetic Art and Op Art, Ghetti searches for ways to encourage viewers to participate actively with her art.
Inspired by phenomena such as Synesthesia, in which a person perceives one sense with the tools of another sense, like hearing colour or seeing smell, she creates moments in her paintings where the mind is unsure about what kind of sensation it is experiencing. The linear, concentric patters she employs create what are known as formal redundancies, which are key in creating the illusion of movement. Like artists such as Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley, or Jesús Rafael Soto, Ghetti is most curious about what types of experiences people can have with a work of participatory art that challenges their fundamental assumptions. At the heart of this work is an interest in perception.
