Capturing The Depths Of A Single Moment Through Dyes And Oils: Meet Artist Karina Bania

PHOTOS COURTESY KARINA BANIA

San Diego native, Karina Bania is a landscape artist but with a twist. By using both intentional strokes and unprompted spontaneity in her geographical renditions, she allows the invisible to become visible - the punctuation of what makes a moment, a moment, and brings it to the surface of the canvas. 

Her inspiration is pulled solely from memory—from there, her creative process takes full reign. Nothing in her home studio is off limits when Karina gets down to brushstroke business. Baking utensils, kitchen sponges, molding equipment—you name it. She paints seated on the floor with her canvas laid out in front of her with a variety of neutral and bold pigments at her side. 

 But it’s not just the memory of the landscape she evokes. It’s the feeling she had when she was at said location. Her moody, dreamlike creations gush with a tranquil stillness, a moment frozen in time that is personal to Karina, and intriguing to us.

“THERE’S A WHOLE LANDSCAPE THAT WE’RE NAVIGATING ALL THE TIME THAT’S THE UNSPOKEN ENERGY OF THE WORLD AROUND US. LIKE, WHEN YOU WALK INTO A ROOM, OR WALK AWAY FROM A CONVERSATION, THERE’S A FEELING FOR EVERYTHING THAT WENT ON, AND THE THINGS THAT WENT UNSAID, THE WEIGHT OF THE GLANCES, AND GESTURES.”

-KARINA BANIA