Christine Flynn in The Annex Gallery

Check out Christine Flynn’s latest inspiration at The Royal Annex Gallery beginning August 1.

Christine Flynn is a Toronto artist living in Prince Edward County working in photography and mixed media. Flynn is known for her landscape photography imbued with abstract elements, creating works of art that exist in between two mediums. In doing so, Flynn elevates the potential of what it means to be a contemporary photographer. The relationship between the photograph and abstract elements is nuanced: the abstractions do not distract from the photograph, but instead appear as if they are part of the image, enhancing it and adding depth.

Flynn composes images that hinge on nostalgia to ground the viewer. With the advent of Instagram, we have become inundated with travel photographs that are aspirational. Flynn’s art pushes against the genre of travel photography whose purpose is to create envy and instead allows the viewer to access a feeling of recognition or belonging in a place they’ve never been. She presents photographs that embody the memory of a place, rather than a straight-forward depiction.

In studio, Flynn’s captures are brought to life beyond the photograph. The abstract elements in her work are applied by hand—coats of paint and gold leaf are layered on top of an image —to create a photograph with the texture of a painting. Float framed or finished with a coat of high-gloss resin, the work is simultaneously reminiscent and contemporary.

Christine Flynn received her BFA from Houghton College, western New York State in 1994. During her studies, Flynn focused on an intensive fine art photography practice. Her work has been exhibited extensively in galleries in Canada, the U.S. and Internationally. Since her first solo show at Pulse Contemporary Art Fair in New York, Flynn’s work has been widely exhibited in North America at art fairs such as Context Art Miami, Scope, New York, Art Hamptons as well as solo shows in Boston, New York and Toronto galleries. Internationally, her work has been shown at major art fairs in London, Paris, Brussels, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Hamburg.