See the controversial exhibit, Parallel Fields: 3 Artists at Manhattan’s Lichtundfire Gallery in this fascinating video which shows and describes the three artists’ works, including me, Kaethe Kauffman:
When a critic discusses my work, I always wonder if s/he makes sense to me or not. In his review in ARTES Magazine (June 19, 2018) titled, Parallel Fields: Three Artists at Manhattan’s Lichtundfire Gallery, critic D. Dominick Lombardi is insightful when he says, about all three artists:
That tendency to obsess, that hyper focus on the mundane to the miraculous is what leads to exceptional thought, creative foretelling and compelling art of modern and contemporary times.
This makes ultimate sense to me since I focus on mundane body parts that we take for granted: a toe, a wrist, a knee. With close examination, these simple parts of our lives become miraculous.
You can see his full article at: http://www.artesmagazine.com/?p=22535
But when Lombardi says my work has an awareness of ”a fine line between soulless suffering and comforting serenity,” this is purely his reaction and not my intention. I simply show the range of motion of each joint in wet paint, created when the model moved in yoga poses.
Points of interest can fall anywhere on the human body from a toe to a knee or neck, yet all of these works have the same sort of awareness that there is a fine line between soulless suffering and comforting serenity. Viewer responses can fall anywhere between thoughts of bondage and domination to enlightened reality and meditative states and imaginings, yet we are always brought back to a state of mind through the body.
His interpretation and mine are quite different. But I have ultimate respect for a viewer enjoying his or her unique reaction to an art piece. In fact, I love this about the art experience. If he sees this in my work, I find it very interesting.
In critic Mary Hrbacek’s review, Parallel Fields: Kathleen Elliot, Kaethe Kauffman and Bobbie Moline-Kramer at the Lichtundfire Gallery, White Hot Magazine, June, 2018, I found the rich comparisons she sees in my work to primitive cultures’ body paintings, relationships of images of the hand to the divine in India, and my attempts to use my work to gain a deeper understanding of my body interesting, but not my personal intentions. See her fascinating article at:
https://whitehotmagazine.com/ articles/moline-kramer-at- lichtundfire-gallery/3985
I deeply appreciated her research and insights, particularly that I investigated alternative forms of physical beauty that were not the Grecian ideal. But, again, that was not my intention, although a noble goal.
However, I respected and agreed with her description and opinion about my work:
These intriguing photographs present a sequence of repeated shots of one isolated body part, painted in a contrasting palette, positioned in sequential frames. The result is a visually striking, almost mesmerizing hybrid with underpinnings in biology, spirituality and filmmaking.
Both critics greatly enriched my insights into my work and my knowledge of what viewers are experiencing in the gallery. I thank Lombardi and Hrabecek for expanding my awareness.
Visit Lichtundfire Gallery online or at: http://www.lichtundfire.com/lichtundfire-parallel-fields-exhibition/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ lichtundfire/.
