Identity, Burden, and Choice: The Daunting Transitions of Kathryn Hart

Gallery View 4

Daunting Transitions

Kathryn Hart’s Daunting Transitions takes on a series of daunting topics with grace and a haunting resonance. Looking at identity, burden, and at the fear of and burden and responsibility of choice, the work is all about change in one form or another.  It is about gestation, and the poetry of life itself.

Hart’s work is often delicate here, lines and wires and bones and strands that remind the viewer of spider webs, of neurons and veins, of barbed wire, and the paths of stars.

Mysterious and magical, she explores a veritable cosmos of choice and interconnected moments; her works are sculptural weavings, metal curls and lines, fabric and fiber.

“Changing, morphing, redefining is part of being human,” Hart asserts. “The extent of my joy depends upon how much pain I’m willing to take.  I do not live life in the middle. These artworks are about moving forward.  I was a pioneer moving into new territory for me.”

Gallery View 1

The solo show was shown at Kotlownia Galeria, Politechnika Krakowska, Krakow, Poland from September 17- October 17, 2018.  Organized and curated by Dr. Krystyna Malinowska and Basha Maryanska (awarded the Golden Owl for Visual Art in 2018),  the photos here offer a look at this absorbing body of work; work both contemplative and insightful.

The show was an outgrowth of what Hart describes as “An onslaught of happenings” that altered her life as she knew it at the time.  “My husband’s cancer, the deaths of both of my parents, and my own struggle with an ongoing disease and trauma… I was completely derailed, turned inside out. The underpinnings of my identity were shaken. In the aftermath of such continued upheaval, what comes next?” she asks.

For Hart, what came was a search for personal truth, love, connections, and growth. “I wanted to feel comfortable in my own skin again,” she attests. 

Gallery View 2

Finding the core of her identity when the certainty in her life had slipped away on many fronts, resulted in the show’s creation. It presents a tension, both in terms of its materials and its art, a searching, which the artist describes as a verb, an action, and infinite. “Decision and choice are nouns, finite. The first is open-ended and reveals opportunities; the latter is a responsibility and creates boundaries.”

Women’s roles and a feminist aesthetic are a part of the exhibition as well. “I continued my dialogue on the multitude of roles females play and are expected to play.  We caretake, build and sustain a home life, clean up the mess of others  – emotional and physical; we engineer our lives to dovetail with our loved ones, and explore and create vast opportunities for ourselves,” Hart explains.  

Ink Drawing Grid_29 ink drawings on either handmade paper or toned paper_36x92 inches

Thematically, her work was expressed through site-specific installations, ink drawings, wire sculptures, paper wall sculptures, mixed media paintings, and small assemblage sculptures, each unique. There were 78 artworks exhibited in all, created over a period of 4 years. All are abstract in nature, utilizing line, space, gesture, and the shadows they create as another element of form as well. 

“I examine the dichotomies of movement and stillness, contemplation and decision, space and line, and search and decision,” she says.

The muted grey, white, black, beige, and metallic color palette in each of her works here allows viewers to contemplate each image as a piece of the whole; its subdued quality belies its graceful, evocative, even ghostly shapes.

In past works, Hart has created denser surfaces, involving multiple layers, mixed media and burlap, glass objects, and found bone.

Aspire and Toil_1 charcoal rubbing, double sided_72x36 inches

 

Here, as with all her work, form follows content, she says. “These materials are airy, ethereal, and light…ripe for movement and growth.  There is ‘entity’ energy in both the 3D and 2D works. The work is organic and intended to connote the inner energy of an organism expanding and moving from internal forces, like an amoeba which can alter its shape and propel itself forward by extending and retracting pseudopods, or ‘false feet.’” 

Indeed, the light in which the works are exhibited forms an additional dimension to each piece. “The wire sculptures and their connecting shadows are the most direct and simple example. Found bones, usually deer, are incorporated into most of my work. In the wire sculptures, I only used rib bones. Ribs protect the heart and are elegant, graceful lines full of energy. Their shadows sweep along the wall almost of their own accord.”

As Hart recognizes, the shadows “continue to creep and move without the viewer present.” They add an element of something alive and shifting to the line and wire sculptures; and she postulates that the pieces may also add another dimension to her work. 

The sense that these works represent something universal, the human body, space and time, is hardly random. Her work here follows an artistic language that Hart calls “influenced by my doctor/scientific family whether I want it to be or not. I learned suture knots from my plastic-surgeon-father. His knots would both join and conceal. I use this language in my work as knots can be entanglements, junctures, bindings, obstacles, hurdles, gates, coupling and memories.  Some knots hold strong  – heal – while others can slide -conceal and yield.

“Making the installation of primarily lines and knots is a bit like making lace. Each individual part is necessary or it all can fall apart. It is both delicate and strong.  It is the sum of its parts, yet each line and knot are deliberately placed. Making it is a form of meditation. My mother was a microbiologist so my initial knowledge of and interest in microorganisms stem from her.”

She describes the spaces between the lines in the installation as places of rest and contemplation, aperatures, openings, portals. The lines themselves reveal potential paths ahead and scars of the ones just followed.”

“Line represents journey, connections, strength, simplicity, scars, tethers, choice, veins and channels.  Lines are also tangled emotions, truths, a web of stories. Lines tied together both lead towards and away from each other.”

There is nothing static about the work here; light and shadows alter their construct.

 

Kathryn Hart_Parse; Toss or Place No 2_14x10x8 inches_mixed media, paper, fishing line, wire, cheesecloth and found objects

Her paper sculptures, part of her “Making Space” collection were the first pieces she made. Titled with eliptical phrases such as “Parse;” “Toss or Place #1” or # 2, the works are shaped from crumpled, torn, handmade paper,  twisted and often turned inside out.  The titles refer to decided which memories to keep and which to let to go; the works are as delicate as precious memories, but need to be “set aside to make space for new memories,” Hart relates.

Kathryn Hart_Parse; Toss or Place No 7_15x8x6.5 inches_paper, mixed media, wire, twine and found objects

“They remind me of writing different drafts or poems…the writer with crumpled pieces of paper littered across the floor. Discerning which have nuggets to preserve, and which should be tossed is necessary.”

Cellular Collection 1_Wire Sculptures Detail

Her wire sculptures, the “Cellular Connection” works, represent for Hart a new beginning, starting with the most simple, single celled organisms.  “The shadows they produce are gorgeous, elegant and full of energy.” Hart views these sculptures as “drawings in space,” single-celled beginnings, an exoskeleton; energetic and sweeping shadow is used as form.

“Back and forth I would work on the installation and make the drawings, black and white ink on toned paper.  I think one fed the other. Both of these media are the most complex,” Hart says.

Ink Drawing Grid Closeup_29 ink drawings on either handmade paper or toned paper_36x92 inches

There are 29 black and white ink drawings on toned paper here, meant to be seen both as a whole, and as a complete artwork individually. She compares them to the symbols of the Periodic Table, each with unique properties.  Their creation was time consuming, according to Hart. “Like a watercolor painting, there is no erasing.”

Kathryn Hart_Ink Drawing No 29_12x9 inches ink on toned paper

According to Hart, “Each line is a choice which cannot be undone, yet the drawings must be meditative and freely done, almost without thought or they look stilted and constrained.  Each is lyrical and is intended to be a look inside an entity.”

Gallery View_Aspire and Toil and Side view of Parse, Toss or Place paper wall sculptures

Created specially for this exhibition was “Aspire and Toil.” Consisting of an ephemeral charcoal rubbing, double sided, sumi paper, charcoal and wax, the large scale piece was created on site in Krakow and inspired by the city itself.  

Aspire and Toil Detail_Charcoal rubbing, double sided

“Krakow has never been bombed and exudes history from before the 300s. One side of the rubbing was made from stones of both the oldest gothic and the oldest renaissance church which sit side by side.  This side of the rubbing represents the hopefulness of and in humanity, the aspirations of the individual and hopefulness. The other side of the work, the ‘Toil’ side of the rubbing was made from the stones on the cobblestoned streets…the streets that citizens walked every day while they loved, protected and built their city and a society filled with artistic and scientific endeavors,” Hart states.

Derailed_Side View

 Also site specific, “Derailed,” is created of common place materials such as lines, wires, and embedded glass objects. Hart says it “Hints at the verve of figuration. The form is stretched taut and tattered by competing forces of the desire to move forward vs. indecision and the burden of choice. The entity is distended, pulled and propelled outward yet it is held constrained.”

Gallery View 5

However Hart describes this work, it is deeply compelling, it is string theory and star path, ocean creature and harp strings. There is an electric energy to the piece. “The entity represents me. Indecision holds me static, while responsibilities and the need to move forward pull me in a multitude of directions.”

Kathryn Hart_DERAILED, Installation, 87x104x38 inches_wire, twine, glass objects, handmade paper, wood, metal mesh, mixed media and found objects

That energy is pushed and pulled outward in a 3D configuration that represents growth, movement, and decision.  “There is a hint at a plumb line on each side of the diptych which both lifts up the false floor it has made and is rooted into it.  This ‘floor’ is torn pieces of handmade paper randomly laid on a metal mesh scaffold. The lines/veins coming outward from the installation suspend these floor pieces off of the ground underneath,” Hart points out. The pieces appear to be floating; air movement from viewers passing the work can shift the positions of the papers, causing some to fall to the floor in an unsettling impermanance.”  In this piece, too, shadows form an important role, tremulous veins that carry energy and nutrients.  Hart’s embedded glass lenses and ampoules fracture light and produce internal light within the form.

Altogether riven with light, shadow, line, and space, these Daunting Transitions  are spare in color and background, luminous and gorgeous, filled with emotion and contemplative energy; alive and shifting: their own organisms birthed by Hart.

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by the artist

 

Kathryn Hart: Sculptural Art Work with Visual and Emotional Depth

Kathryn hart USE

Resilient. Hopeful. Poignant. And deep. Above all, deep. Kathryn Hart creates three-dimensional works that are as dimensional physically as they are emotionally – a look into the heart, soul, and spirit. The sculptural dimension to her paintings is an adjunct to her art, not a gimmick, but rather a way in which to delve even deeper into the essence of her work.

170201_CODA _Front View_65x42x72 inches (1)

Both the canyons and fissures of her art and the physical depth of her pigment create a sense of mystery, magic, and the poetic. Viewers searching for meaning, rummaging for spiritual sustenance, will find much to devour in Hart’s paintings.

The internationally award winning artist says “All of my works spawn from personal experience and express a multiplicity of emotions.  My prior series, Unapologetic Presence, dealt with the complexity of identity and explored its lasting components once the pressures from society, family, and personal experience are removed.  The series began after my mom died. I felt unstable. My role in the family morphed and my concept of my identity felt in flux,” she relates.

kathryn hart

That series, Hart notes, had a “rawness” born from her willingness to expose what she calls “the deep places about myself that I’d never had the courage or inclination to let others see. The series is about looking into the past, discarding the flotsam and coming out on the other side with a stronger and ‘unapologetic’ sense of identity. The emotional base of the work makes it accessible to everyone,” she attests, adding that the work also has a strong feminist basis. Using materials that are intentionally rough, unrefined, and unsophisticated, Hart created works in which the materials themselves were “honest and a metaphor for examining identity with an attitude of self-acceptance.”

160302_DINNER WITH LAZARUS_52x62x7 inches (1)

Hart’s current series is, she says, “about life, death, and hope. Hope is the critical factor in the human experience that gets us through the inevitable tragedies and pitfalls of life. Without hope, we die.”

The universal quality of Hart’s work begins with a personal impetus to create. She says that her new series was her outlet for handling her husband’s Stage IV cancer. It deals with mortality, fear, the fragility of life, the will to live, and the necessary hope to move forward and not be paralyzed.”

Hart says that the titles of the work hold a strong importance for her, and guided her in each work. Often, she explains, the title came first.

160302_Dinner with Lazarus_Detail 7 (1)

“‘Thin Skinned,’ is about the appearance of fragility when the scaffolding is resilient.  Airiness, connections, threads, seeing through the top layer into the heart center are at the core of this piece,” she relates. “Other titles in this series include, ‘Dinner With Lazarus,’ ‘Pretending to be Fine,’ ‘Underneath,’ ‘Beast of Burden,’ and ‘CODA.’”

170201_CODA_Detail 4 (1)

In each work, there is an almost ethereal quality, a majestic sweep, that speaks of man’s frailty and strength, the yin and yang of life’s impermanence.

170201_CODA_Detail 3 (1)

Each of the works serve as hanging sculptures, but as the series progressed, artworks moved completely off the wall, as with “CODA,” shown in the two photographs above. Now, Hart is not merely invoking dimensionality, she is creating her own.

150801_Pretending to be Fine_87x72x12 inches_mixed media, wire, twine, steel, leather, resin and found objects

“The pieces intrude into the viewers’ space and force them to walk around it to take it all in. As in life, we must walk around to see the whole and take multiple perspectives,” she asserts. “Progression in life is not linear, but often a rat’s nest of connections which cannot be picked apart.”

150801_Pretending to be Fine_Detail 4 (1)

The surfaces of Hart’s work have shifted from raw to a dense, richly processed archeology in which the process of her work and the message she is offering through it are packed. She says that her materials are chosen to support her emotional message. “Slicing through the surface would reveal an iterative process of construction and deconstruction. The surfaces often shimmer with a mineralization, as if from the earth,” Hart explains. The viewer feels in some cases as if he or she were “mining” the surface and delving beneath it into something ancient, fecund, and replete.

160401_Beast of Burden_Detail 1 (1)

And speaking of materials, Hart says she began using mixed media and 3D materials when “I found I couldn’t express my intentions with a traditional 2D surface and paint,” she smiles.

The found objects that she’s incorporated into her work each have a personal significance to the artist, and are part of her history. Living adjacent to a national forest, she’s found deer bones, and uses an organic process to strip them.

“The bones become translucent and illuminated,” she reveals. “These found bones are a normal part of my life, my history. Bones are structural and the only evidence of life which lasts thousands of years. Rib bones surround and protect the heart. And these bones are beautiful, with elegant shapes and lines.”

It is not just the organic that Hart works with, however, as she incorporates other found items of meaning into her work, such as decades old barbed wire found hiking in the forest, and her husband’s empty syringes and pill bottles. Walking on railroad tracks she’s discovered rusted metal pieces of a train – “likely heading west with people filled with hope” aboard it.

Kathryn hart exhibition

A consummate visual storyteller, Hart creates to reflect the human condition, ultimately revealing both inner darkness and an inner light. Light and dark are both rooted within her sculptural depths, always to rise.

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by artist/photo of the artist herself, Genie Davis