Relational dualities, such as between viewer and wearer, inner and outer, latent and manifest energy, and grief and joy, drive Katrin Schnabl’s work. Through Portal, a recent series of dimensional metal frames stretched with boldly tinted, transparent, and intersecting fabric layers, Schnabl has been addressing and expressing dynamic internal emotions around loss.

“This is how I paint,” Schnabl explains. The dimensionality of the works gives them a body, allowing her method of painting to extend beyond the canvas, making the pieces something in between a painting and an installation. The desire to give the works depth comes perhaps from her years of pattern-cutting around the human form. “I was dressing my feelings,” she says. By imbuing the works with the body of a dimensional frame, Portal offers the viewer several surfaces to contemplate and encourages a dynamic relationship as one ambles around the works.