Kaitlin Kirsch

Kaitlin Kirsch-Opfar is from Phoenix, Arizona. She works primarily in painting mediums, however, she enjoys working with drawing materials, ceramics, and printmaking. Life after receiving her Bachelor of Fine Art degree includes going to graduate school and becoming a licensed counselor and art therapist.  

Artist Statement

In this series of paintings, my goal is to portray various fears. Understandably, not everyone is going to be fearful of the content of these paintings; for not everyone has the same fears. These three paintings explore mysophobia, odontophobia and lachanophobia; each of which cater to a specific concept and one of them is unique and NOT common.

Mysophobia is the fear of germs, bacteria, viruses, disease, etc. My composition depicts 5 deadly strands of disease and viruses at a microscopic level intertwining in a mass of vibrant color. Thus, making them uniquely beautiful but no less deadly.

Odontophobia is probably one of the more common fears and deals with the fear of teeth and/or oral procedures. In order to cater to both accounts of this fear I decided to create an image with rotting teeth and dental equipment prodding at them in a threatening manner.

Lachanophobia is one of the rarer fears. The recorded accounts of this phobia describe the fear deriving from childhood incidents of allergic reactions resulting along the lines of breathing problems. The idea behind this painting was to create an image where it someone is buried beneath the pile of giant vegetables reaching out for help.

I know not everyone is going to be fearful of these images and even though some fears seem ridiculous, we must remember that we are all afraid of something.