Dan Snyder: Assignment #1

After visiting the current exhibition by artist Kim Banister I found that her work was unique in appearance and presentation. Starting off, I immediately noticed that some of her pieces were framed and some just pinned to the wall. I thought that presenting without the use of a frame offered a more incomplete, grunge look that really appealed to me. The display made me feel like I was in the studio where the pieces were created. Also her use of frames showed a more complete and sophisticated look, like they were off the wall at home and into the gallery. Moving on, the flow of the exhibit made me feel as though there was a story behind the sequence. It felt like I was being taken on an emotional journey in a way, more so sad than anything. The consistent use of the same colors and material brought everything together very well and all in all contributed more to the feeling of her work for me.

After looking at the entire collection I chose to take a picture of the first piece of work “Red Series #2”. The use of charcoal to create dark and subtle lines focuses one’s eyes towards the human figure in the work. Kim used simple lines to describe the figure in a quick sketch kind of way. Nevertheless, the way the colors melt away from the lines makes one feel as though the medium is not at all fabric or paper, but flesh. The dull and bright tones of the red, green, orange, gray, and black give contrast and depth that oozed together. Also intriguing, the method used to apply the pigments. This was simply done by blowing it on. Then the linseed oil to blend everything together and give the work it’s wet, cut flesh-like appearance.

Moving on, I came to find that the meaning wrapped up in this particular piece of work is abstract and more dependent on one’s current mood or background. However, looking at Red Series #2 I came find that visually it depicted two people holding each other almost comforting one another. When looking at the work I feel as though the colors are weeping with the two captured in the picture, like the paper is living. The grungy primitive use of color draws me further into the emotional aspect of the piece. This all brings together what I interpret to be loss, grief, sadness, companionship, and being able to find comfort in such a grimy, dirty place that our emotions sometimes take us.