Cristine Balarine

Cristine Balarine is a Brazilian artist and architect based in Abu Dhabi. With a Master’s degree in Architecture from The Bartlett, University College London, and a background in Florentine Renaissance art history, Balarine’s large-scale abstract compositions seeks to rebel from the rigour and ultra-rationalisation of her daily architectural practices. 

About her large-scale expressive abstract paintings, she writes: “My paintings manifest my intrigue for the rawness and authenticity of primitive, anthropological visual art, music and language. Oppositely, they also relate to street art: I am attracted to streetscapes for their scale and very universal, accessible, common place status quo. I see the street as our common living rooms in the cities, and references to the organically formed, even dirty public realm complement my visual language, framing references to architecture.”