From trash bins to the most elevated, hermetic imagery, C. Finley equates values of high culture with standardized, mundane objects in forms of independent, self-contained works and direct interventions into public space. Pointedly revealing a softened, feminine perspective from within and without, Finley’s practice revolves around an idea of beautification; a noble idea to magnify the visual aesthetics of the municipal realm, ultimately marred by its self-aware masking of more daunting socio-political dynamics that no amount of pretty paint or covering can change. Gleefully executed, but with a grounded understanding of the politics of the constructed image. Exercising gestures rooted in graffiti and street art.
Born Christine Finley in Sedalia, Missouri in 1975, she received her BFA in Painting from the Pratt Institute and her MFA from the California State University, Long Beach. She is the recipient of the Eszter Cohen grant and held a residency at the Treehouse Gallery in Los Angeles in 2007. Press coverage for Finley’s work includes The New York Times, The Huffington Post, CNN.com, NYLON Magazine and the BBC World Service, Brasil. Finley’s work was included in Gestalten’s ‘Urban Interventions: Personal Projects in Public Spaces’ and Rizzoli’s ‘Stickers: Stuck-Up Piece of Crap: From Punk Rock to Contemporary Art.’ Finley is a current artist-in-residence Gai Mattolo fashion house in Rome and lives in New York and Rome.
