Like many creatives, Karina Gentinetta’s road to success wasn’t a straight line. Before she became a prolific abstract painter of mesmerizing, charged works in acrylics, pencil, oil pastels and charcoal, she was a lawyer.

Born in Buenos Aires, Gentinetta and her siblings left with her parents during Argentina’s Dirty War, when thousands of people were killed or forcibly disappeared by the government. The Gentinettas relocated to New Orleans, where Karina put herself through college and later graduated from Tulane University Law School. She initially wanted to major in art, but her cautionary parents who championed the value of a solid education urged their bright daughter to study something more practical and financially sound.

She practiced law for 13 years and became a law partner at a prestigious firm before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, destroying her home. Gentinetta found herself at a fork in the road: law or art? She chose the latter.

Inspired by artists like Cy Twombly and Franz Kline, Gentinetta’s abstract paintings — typically pale canvases with calculated bursts of color — are emotional. Others bear a more stark palette of black and white with intense and sometimes graphic strokes. Gentinetta often uses materials that one might find at a construction site, like wall plaster and house paint, symbolically and tactilely responding to how her adopted city was wrecked but has endured. Her collectors have included clients from the U.S. and worldwide, and in 2016 she collaborated with RH Modern on a limited-edition series which sold out. Gentinetta’s work tells a unique story that does not end after a glance.

Karina Gentinetta and her works have been featured in a multitude of publications including The New York Times, Elle Decor, Luxe Interiors + Design, House Beautiful, 1stdibs Introspective Magazine, More Magazine, and Southern Living. Her art can be found online on 1stDibs and InCollect, and in person at the Gallery at 200 Lex at the New York Design Center and at the Cheryl Hazan Gallery in Tribeca, NYC.