Artist Statement: Kathryn Arnold
These paintings are a result of intuitive nonobjective processes and contain my search for a clear, precise moment of visual "magic". At this place where everything comes together, an integration occurs. Perhaps this is the magic - the moment is ordinary yet contains this indefinable occurrence of integration - of which each is new and previously unseen. There is no end to this continual process.
Kathryn works in her studio in San Francisco when she is not teaching in the Bay area. It is a large space with a skywell that keeps track of the time. Her work contains two intertwining veins. One is filled with large, colorful oils on canvas. The other vein includes drawings that are black and white mixed media works on paper. Both display the density and layered mark-making that points to artistic process and content.
Artist Statement: Kathryn Arnold
The paintings are a result of intuitive nonobjective processes and contain my search for visual "magic". The sense of touch and chaotic energy of color and marks play an important role in building up layers that function to create and encompassing, enveloping field and bewildering space. The grid at times becomes a reference point and the intrinsic relating of parts form poetry; an interplay between subjective and objective realities.
"If the doors of perception are cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite."
William Blake
These paintings are a result of intuitive nonobjective processes and contain my search for a clear, precise moment of visual "magic". At this place where everything comes together, an integration occurs. Perhaps this is the magic - the moment is ordinary yet contains this indefinable occurrence of integration - of which each is new and previously unseen. There is no end to this continual process.
The sense of physical touch is used layer after layer; the physical is defining a nonphysical experience.
My work shares connections with the abstractions of the German painters: Gerhard Richter for his lushly painted surfaces and energy-producing seemingly spontaneous vivid relationships of colors and movement, Sigmar Polke for his all-over organic material physical qualities, and Anselm Kiefer with his romanticist fields of texture where the physical remains meaningful.
I use the tangible qualities of mark-making and surfaces to evoke or possibly create romanticist spirit and presence. Then, following through to speak to these particular pieces that I have chosen to present, spirit and matter intertwine. This arena, that defies defining, connects to the poetry I sometimes use for titles.
*"2.Any mysterious, seemingly inexplicable power or influence; as, the "magic" of love." (webster)
