SK
Cothren Artist's Statement
When I rise up
let me rise up joyful
like a bird
When I fall
let me
fall without regret
like a leaf
--Wendell Berry
That's what it is, really. This art you see in front of you. Various layers brimming with mathematical realism constantly and consistently pushing upward just a gracefully as the chaos of the natural world is pressing downward. Push down and push up. That's what this art is about.
There's a battle going on out there. Right out these doors, between the push of man and our tendency towards maniacal, mathematical mayhem and the graceful resistance by an ever-changing environment. It’s going on with the canvas - the starkness of the cloth, the industrialism of the wood, the mono-technocracy of print. We love it and we absorb it through the same two eyes that growl for the beauty of the paint and the texture of throwaway culture and fabric that has been blessed by the imagination and natural world.
We've got to find a balance between the two.
This is an exploration of that balance based on my experiences in the First and Third World focuses of art, parenting, swimming and thunderstorms. All of them disruptive and chaotic but continually under the appearance of control while in actuality it is our own perceptions which attempt to restrain those things which seem like they could get out of control. The problem now between mankind and the natural world is that many of those things which we used to control so well are now starting to break those perceptual, fragile restraints; an experience which we are not well suited to enjoy.
May you find the balance and recognize peace.
SK Cothren