Rhapsody in Red

About the Artist | Karina Gentinetta’s path to becoming a celebrated abstract artist was anything but linear. Born in Buenos Aires and raised in New Orleans, she earned honors degrees from Tulane University and Tulane Law School before spending 13 years as a corporate litigator. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed her home, prompting a profound shift toward rebuilding through art. What began as a design business soon evolved into painting, after she was encouraged to create large-scale works for her showroom. Her first canvas sold for ten times her expectations. Influenced by Cy Twombly and Franz Kline, her early black-and-white works—often made with house paint, plaster, and varnish—reflected both personal and urban transformation. Over time, her practice expanded to include color, gestural marks, scribbles, and mathematical motifs, expressing spontaneity, discipline, vulnerability, and resilience. Working with unconventional, construction-inspired materials, Gentinetta creates paintings that function as visual diaries—intimate, textured, and rigorously composed. Her work balances the analytical mind of a former attorney with the freedom of an abstract artist, moving between bold intensity and quiet reflection. Her paintings are held in private collections worldwide. She collaborated with RH Modern on a sold-out limited edition in 2016 and was later commissioned to create a permanent collection for RH Paris on the Champs-Élysées. Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, The New York Times, and other leading publications. Rooted in both Argentine passion and New Orleanian resilience, her practice continues to honor fragility, strength, and transformation.