Dolby Chadwick Gallery announces “Distances,” an exhibition of new work by Mayme Kratz, on view from December 9, 2017, to January 27, 2018. Kratz’s mixed media works feature elements of the natural world—such as seed pods, pinecones, grass, shells, and rattlesnake ribs—which she encases in layers of polymer resin to create lyrical microcosms of the landscapes from which she draws.
The artist likens her process to that of creating a visual journal. For example, the materials she collects while hiking become recordings of a specific time and place, such as a weed that she weaves into a nest or a knot. Living near the desert, in Phoenix, Arizona, means Kratz has to look carefully, scanning the dry, exposed earth in what becomes a desperate hunt to discover small, beautiful things.
She notes that when she’s out foraging, her response to one leaf or tumbleweed but not another is rooted in pure intuition: “It’s as if it speaks to me, and all of a sudden there’s a relationship. It’s almost immediate.” While there is often a correlation between the arrangement of a given composition and the organic matter it spotlights, this does not occur consciously. Kratz studies her objects under a microscope—a form of close looking that helps inform her process—but the compositions ultimately come together organically, without intensive premeditation. Outside forces also influence the artist’s choices, as evidenced by the ongoing “Circle Dream” series, which began in response to a dream.
Kratz explains that part of her job is to bring beauty into the world and share it with others, which she does by calling attention to the small and exquisite yet often overlooked moments that unfold all around us, all the time. In a poem by Philippe Jaccottet—also titled “Distances”—which marvels at earth’s expansive beauty and capacity to nourish, there is a line that reads: “We live in a world of motion and distance.” While these words could be read in any number of ways, Kratz points to a collective forgetting of our place in the natural world, the result of moving through time too quickly or of having lost touch with what lies at the core of the human experience. Two separate worlds consequently emerge: one of man-made events that is defined by tension and stress, and one that exists at a deeper level and from which life opens out. This often unseen and unfelt layer is the one with which Kratz seeks to forge a connection: by moving deeper into nature and confronting the sublime, even at the smallest of scales, we “reach deeper into life, to the poetry of existence.”
Venturing into unknown territory, artists Katrin Fridriks and Jan Kaláb took a chance on one…
Pushing the boundaries of artistic expression, visionary artist Melissa Herrington’s large-scale, abstract paintings blur the boundaries between mediums,…
Alexandre Iakovleff (1887-1938) - famous Russian painter, graphic artist, master of drawing, portraitist, author of…
Drawing inspiration from a wide breadth of sources, including ancient mythology, fairy tales and fables,…
It is irregular for illustrators to work alongside research and development industries, such as public…
Beginning Thursday, April 4 and running through Thursday May 18, Cavalier Gallery is pleased to present the…