Karen Mainenti

Artist Statement: My work is an engagement of appropriated text and images from consumer products, advertising and media. By reframing these messages—often with humor—I reveal the absurdity and unnatural expectations that society has come to accept as commonplace. In my latest series of paintings entitled "Garden State," I isolate the architecture and signage of suburban stores, malls, and highways of my native New Jersey to show the idealism in which they were originally conceived.

Portfolio Images