Artist Kirsten McCrea is widely known in Montreal for her initiative Papirmasse, but she is also a skilled painter. Currently on show at Maison Kasini is her inspired series of portraits titled Hot Topic, based on a song by feminist trio Le Tigre. The lyrics of the tune mention 57 feminist icons, and McCrea has turned every one of them into a small, vividly coloured painting. While the overall aesthetics of the series is coherent, there are variations in the style of each individual piece, ranging from quick outlines in brush stroke, over exact renderings in black and white, to spontaneous, fluid brush work. Each portrait makes a statement on its own, but it’s the arrangement of the paintings in a grid which give them the full impact. The group arrangement of the portraits is more than an aesthetic choice, it is also philosophical: the feminist movement would never have created the change it did had not its proponents worked together as a group. Certainly an inspiring thought.

Kirsten McCrea is a Montreal-based artist whose work explores issues of cultural memory, looking at pop vs. underground culture, the media, and popular mythologies. Known for her bright colours and figurative subject matter, Kirsten is quickly establishing herself as a prominent emerging Canadian artist. Primarily a painter, she is also the founder and editor of Papirmasse, an affordable art subscription. Her paintings have been exhibited nationally, and her work has been reviewed in The Walrus, Book By Its Cover, and The Montreal Gazette, amongst others. She has illustrated for the Polaris Music Prize, the Under Pressure Graffiti festival, & Poetry Magazine. Papirmasse was nominated for an Expozine Small Press Award in 2010.

More about the artist on the gallery website.