STILLNESS: Keira Kotler

JUNE 4TH - JULY 24TH, 2010

Keira Kotler February 3 to April 23, 2010 [I Look for Light], urethane and varnish on acrylic 24 x 24 inches

Keira Kotler February 3 to April 23, 2010 [I Look for Light], urethane and varnish on acrylic 24 x 24 inches

For over a decade, Keira Kotler has explored luminosity and the resonance of color through reductive paintings, photographs, prints and videos. As she describes, her primary interest is in “perception and the possibilities that occur when one attends to the present moment.” She creates nearly monochromatic paintings with subtle value shifts using pigmented urethane on acrylic panels. In the “I Look for Light” series, she paints one layer per day over several weeks or months, encapsulating specific periods of time. Kotler’s photographs mounted on aluminum, photo installations and videos portray vivid colors removed from their source imagery, creating luminous, tonally complex compositions.

Visually and conceptually, the art historical roots of Kotler’s work can be traced to the Color Field paintings of Mark Rothko and Ad Reinhardt. Her work’s spareness, use of industrial materials and active interaction with surrounding space and light recall the sculptures of Minimalist Donald Judd. Her interest in light and phenomenological experience connects strongly to Light and Space artists JamesTurrell and Robert Irwin as well as to installation artists Olafur Eliasson and Erwin Redl. Kotler’s Bay Area contemporaries David Simpson, Jamie Brunson and Freddy Chandra also explore the formal and expressive capabilities of subtly shifting, luminous color.

Kotler’s nonobjective, visually immersive work is essentially experiential, directly engaging one’s senses. As such it is an invitation to pause and consciously perceive, enabling “discovery through stillness.”

Exhibition Gallery