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Eyfells and Eyfells: Kristin Eyfells
Kristin Halldórsdóttir Eyfells was born and
raised in Iceland. She is a graduate of The Commercial College of Iceland.
In 1947, she graduated from The Rudolph Schaefer School of Design in San
Francisco, California. Kristin also studied psychology and art for some time
at Hofstra College, Long Island, New York. In 1962, she received a Bachelor
of Arts degree in psychology and in 1963 was awarded a Bachelor
of Fine Arts degree, both from the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Kristin H. Eyfells has taken part in several group exhibitions in the United
States, Iceland and Denmark. Kristin married Johann Eyfells in 1949. They
agree that the art they create has little in common except that it is made
by a husband and wife. But both are similar in their strong impact.
Kristin paints oversized, brightly colored, close-cropped faces of
well-known celebrities, chosen from the arts, entertainment and political
arenas. Her subjects include such figures as Barbara Bush, Bill Cosby,
and Greta Garbo as well as Winston Churchill, Bertrand Russell and Sean
Connery, to name only a few.
As explained in an essay by Francis Martin, Jr., Ph.D. curator at the
University of Central Florida, Kristin deepens her understanding of each
subject by studying biographical materials, however her interests lie
strongly in the de-contextualized, larger-than-life close-up of eyes, ears,
nose, and mouth to fill the oversized canvases. Her portraits are
relentlessly consistent as she translates each line and shadow in the face
into a myriad of vivid colors and shapes. Her methods act to reverse
the mass-cultural image of each figure by applying "stage make-up" not to
cover up imperfections, but to accentuate them.
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