PIANO: Kristin Putchinski

PIANO: Kristin Puchinski

On View October 4th-November 7th

Gallery CA is pleased to present Piano, a solo exhibition by Baltimore-based artist Kristin Putchinski, on view from October 4 through November 7, 2025. Through her distinctive interdisciplinary practice, Putchinski reimagines the grand piano—not only as a musical instrument, but as a vessel of memory, movement, and transformation.

The exhibition features two major works from Putchinski’s ongoing Piano series. The first, Piano: Theme & Variation explores concepts of tension, balance, transformation, and release through a series of actions, performances, and sculptures that utilize an upright piano as the primary object. Her process is tri-fold: unmaking, playing, and remaking. This body of work confronts conventional training on the piano and articulates some experiences on a journey of healing from a profound encounter with violent trauma.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is Putchinski’s newest work, Piano: The Body is a Sacred Garment. Using a petit grand piano once owned by her late neighbor and fellow musician, David Crandall, the artist crafts a personal meditation on mortality, aging, intimacy, and pleasure. The work honors Crandall’s legacy while offering a poetic inquiry of vulnerability, grief, resilience, and play.

In addition to the installations, Piano includes two live events focused on the concept of “performing sculpture,” both free and open to the public. The first features an iterative installation of Hex 1 & Hex 2, developed in collaboration with interdisciplinary artist Anna Kroll. The second is a solo performance of Garment/Gauge, a newly developed work by Putchinski that further expands her investigation into movement, balance, tension, and the limits of the body and form. 

The second event is a documentation performance. Audience members are encouraged to witness a video-taped performance of  Hex 1 & Hex 2 and Garment/Gauge, through the windows of Gallery CA.

At the opening and closing events, audience members are invited to join Putchinski one hour before the event to pick up trash outside the gallery and in the surrounding streets. Trash bags and disposal will be provided.

Putchinski spent twenty-seven years touring as an award-winning songwriter, musician, and composer before completing an MFA in Intermedia and Digital Arts from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2024.