Frol Boundin
My work explores the impact that symbolic structures have on the formation of personal memories and the mechanisms by which temporal experiences can be expressed in two dimensional form. Mining the electronic and physical environments for images of structures and objects that have been elevated to a symbolic status by ideology or commerce and then discarded, I am provided with an endless source of material for the creation of large scale works that challenge the traditional use of printmaking medium. In this work, the relationship between different materials and techniques forms a poetic environment of introspection and association. I view that picture space as a never-ending depository, a historical strata that I fill with fossils of lost sub-cultures, of grand aspirations and disastrous failures. As a visual archeologist of the post-industrial landscape, I produce collage based compositions that function as palimpsests and could be viewed as an imperfect record of human ambition. I search for banal objects that have been elevated to the status of a monument by careful placement or restoration. I seek monumental structures that are absorbed back into the landscape by a natural process of decay. In all, a process of discovery drives me; the act of "finding" is central to this work. These found images form vast visual libraries that are the basis for decontextualized, reformed, and re-assembled compositions that become habitats for new visions and associations. The forms, colors, and textures of my prints serve as a meditative space for viewers’ personal reflection on the passage of time.
On several occasions, my research has led me to address contemporary social issues. Often rooted in historic and current environmental disasters, that work explores the negligent treatment of our environment for the sake of instant gratification. From the Aral Sea in former USSR, to the Salton Sea in Southern California, I am moved by the carelessness with which humans modify their habitat, only to discard the remains of failed projects and push them out of common memory. By combining these images with images of personal artifacts, I remind the viewer of interconnectedness of all things in our environment.
In my studio, I find inspiration in the process itself. I push the boundaries of the materials and techniques I employ, which are sourced from traditional printmaking, industrial fabrication, and digital production methods. I use a variety of print processes to give myself greater flexibility in my exploration of scale and color. By combining technologies, by layering found images, I aim to give a viewer a sense of vertigo and wonder at the forms found in my works and in the landscape that inspires them. It is there, among obscure and discarded symbols of our grand experiment at civilization, where a viewer might find that moment of individual reflection that will define the personal acquisition of communal memory.
On several occasions, my research has led me to address contemporary social issues. Often rooted in historic and current environmental disasters, that work explores the negligent treatment of our environment for the sake of instant gratification. From the Aral Sea in former USSR, to the Salton Sea in Southern California, I am moved by the carelessness with which humans modify their habitat, only to discard the remains of failed projects and push them out of common memory. By combining these images with images of personal artifacts, I remind the viewer of interconnectedness of all things in our environment.
In my studio, I find inspiration in the process itself. I push the boundaries of the materials and techniques I employ, which are sourced from traditional printmaking, industrial fabrication, and digital production methods. I use a variety of print processes to give myself greater flexibility in my exploration of scale and color. By combining technologies, by layering found images, I aim to give a viewer a sense of vertigo and wonder at the forms found in my works and in the landscape that inspires them. It is there, among obscure and discarded symbols of our grand experiment at civilization, where a viewer might find that moment of individual reflection that will define the personal acquisition of communal memory.
Karsten Creightney
I start with paper. I cut it directly from old books. I cut up prints that I create in various media. I use the scraps left from the painting before. I paste it on canvas, wood or thicker pieces of paper to create fields of information. Then I work back into these initial backgrounds with paint, then more collage.Eventually, imagined landscapes emerge from the chaos. Worlds built from remnants.
The border between natural and urban environments has been of interest lately. Plants, especially flowers are always present.
Trial and error is important. Re-contextualizing pieces of pictures into alternate realities can be a struggle. Scraps are, on some level, always scraps. I integrate them into the painting, yet something remains of their past lives. They speak of other pictures than mine. I like having this other voice in my paintings. It brings unanticipated questions to the conversation, and leads me in new directions, up side canyons, and down dead end alleys. My work is as much a product of discoveries made while making it, as it is deliberate. It is more orchestrated than fully controlled.
Born, raised and currently residing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Karsten Creightney received his BA from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He subsequently completed the Professional Printer Training Program at the Tamarind Institute and received an MFA in painting from the University of New Mexico.
His work is in the collection of the Arkansas Arts Center, Cleveland Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Flint Institute of Arts, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Springfield (MO) Art Museum and numerous other institutions.
The border between natural and urban environments has been of interest lately. Plants, especially flowers are always present.
Trial and error is important. Re-contextualizing pieces of pictures into alternate realities can be a struggle. Scraps are, on some level, always scraps. I integrate them into the painting, yet something remains of their past lives. They speak of other pictures than mine. I like having this other voice in my paintings. It brings unanticipated questions to the conversation, and leads me in new directions, up side canyons, and down dead end alleys. My work is as much a product of discoveries made while making it, as it is deliberate. It is more orchestrated than fully controlled.
Born, raised and currently residing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Karsten Creightney received his BA from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He subsequently completed the Professional Printer Training Program at the Tamarind Institute and received an MFA in painting from the University of New Mexico.
His work is in the collection of the Arkansas Arts Center, Cleveland Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Flint Institute of Arts, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Springfield (MO) Art Museum and numerous other institutions.