2, Notes on the Invisible, 2011
by: Kristin Fleischmann & Katherine McCullough (KMF)
Provisional. What happens when two artists’ work meets through intuitive play with materials, and whose self-doubt is magnified through compulsive, spontaneous, side-by-side decision-making? The collaborative work between Katherine McCullough and Kristin Fleischmann is a conversation through the process of making, a responsiveness and freedom to challenge each other’s visual language through painting and sculpted form. The work resists explanation and rests upon unfixed resolution and tangential reflection for meaning. Metaphoric associations are found through the unison and discord of their methodologies. The work requires openness and ultimately questions the act of making itself, fantasies of beauty, self-consciousness, anticipation, despair, temporality, and illustrates the power of collaborative expression.
The collaboration challenges art historical models of a singular painter in her studio through collective authorship. Stretching the artistic vision of another person and combining conflicting yet surprisingly bottomless projections can dissolve into beauty. McCullough and Fleischmann use collected materials to implement a provisional approach to making, each gesture a place marker meant to focus on the ephemerality of material and the incongruity of expression. While both artists seek to create experiences for the viewer, they approach this methodology with different material sensibilities. While McCullough is drawn to industrial plastics and synthetic materials and focuses on line and geometric forms, Fleischmann’s gathers organic clays and fabrics, focusing on ugly, clumpy, dirty forms.
2, Notes on the Invisible began with writing. Our interest in language poetry and the associative properties of language served as starting point for the project. We each wrote a short poem on the number 2. The number, a metaphor for all dualistic relationships, collaboration, and tensions within the individual. The poems are the platform for the visual conversation that ensued.
2:
sway
I am the place holder
cut torn out of thick paper
hallowbodied loveliness that flies towards the green
failing because the place of flesh is red
storm
I am the root
mangled resonation of fight
growing really where you are
and this can be green too
still
both are wanting
plasticwrapped insides
clearly pulsing complimentary colors
onto each others clothes
2:
She kept brining string
For her to do what
It was the base of their relationship
Vulgar, eyes wide
They made the lights flash
Hoping for blackness to stay
Glyphs on the wall
Vending Machines hum
Can you hear me
How does she feel through
The inside of her little bone finger
Wrapped in string
Where could two nowhere
Two bones go otherwise
Provisional. What happens when two artists’ work meets through intuitive play with materials, and whose self-doubt is magnified through compulsive, spontaneous, side-by-side decision-making? The collaborative work between Katherine McCullough and Kristin Fleischmann is a conversation through the process of making, a responsiveness and freedom to challenge each other’s visual language through painting and sculpted form. The work resists explanation and rests upon unfixed resolution and tangential reflection for meaning. Metaphoric associations are found through the unison and discord of their methodologies. The work requires openness and ultimately questions the act of making itself, fantasies of beauty, self-consciousness, anticipation, despair, temporality, and illustrates the power of collaborative expression.
The collaboration challenges art historical models of a singular painter in her studio through collective authorship. Stretching the artistic vision of another person and combining conflicting yet surprisingly bottomless projections can dissolve into beauty. McCullough and Fleischmann use collected materials to implement a provisional approach to making, each gesture a place marker meant to focus on the ephemerality of material and the incongruity of expression. While both artists seek to create experiences for the viewer, they approach this methodology with different material sensibilities. While McCullough is drawn to industrial plastics and synthetic materials and focuses on line and geometric forms, Fleischmann’s gathers organic clays and fabrics, focusing on ugly, clumpy, dirty forms.
2, Notes on the Invisible began with writing. Our interest in language poetry and the associative properties of language served as starting point for the project. We each wrote a short poem on the number 2. The number, a metaphor for all dualistic relationships, collaboration, and tensions within the individual. The poems are the platform for the visual conversation that ensued.
2:
sway
I am the place holder
cut torn out of thick paper
hallowbodied loveliness that flies towards the green
failing because the place of flesh is red
storm
I am the root
mangled resonation of fight
growing really where you are
and this can be green too
still
both are wanting
plasticwrapped insides
clearly pulsing complimentary colors
onto each others clothes
2:
She kept brining string
For her to do what
It was the base of their relationship
Vulgar, eyes wide
They made the lights flash
Hoping for blackness to stay
Glyphs on the wall
Vending Machines hum
Can you hear me
How does she feel through
The inside of her little bone finger
Wrapped in string
Where could two nowhere
Two bones go otherwise