Writings

The enigmatic number 7 forms the exterior boundaries of these fields of color. The number 7, a viable part of Medieval numerology is a symbolic representation of spirit and matter. That sense of magic as
experienced in the Middle Ages and read about in Tolkein’s texts and brought to the popular
imagination by Peter Jackson is an important part of the process in creating these pieces.
(I have always been a Tolkein fan; I love how Middle Earth conveys that magical sense of the Middle Ages.)

The 7 x 7 Group
425 Market
55 Fremont

Artist Statement: Kathryn Arnold
January 2005

The paintings are a result of intuitive nonobjective processes and contain my search for visual "magic". The sense of touch and chaotic energy of color and marks play an important role in building up layers that function to create and encompassing, enveloping field and bewildering space. The grid at times becomes a reference point and the intrinsic relating of parts form poetry; an interplay between subjective and objective realities.

"If the doors of perception are cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite."
William Blake

These paintings are a result of intuitive nonobjective processes and contain my search for a clear, precise moment of visual "magic". At this place where everything comes together, an integration occurs. Perhaps this is the magic - the moment is ordinary yet contains this indefinable occurrence of integration - of which each is new and previously unseen. There is no end to this continual process.

The sense of physical touch is used layer after layer; the physical is defining a nonphysical experience.

My work shares connections with the abstractions of the German painters: Gerhard Richter for his lushly painted surfaces and energy-producing seemingly spontaneous vivid relationships of colors and movement, Sigmar Polke for his all-over organic material physical qualities, and Anselm Kiefer with his romanticist fields of texture where the physical remains meaningful.

I use the tangible qualities of mark-making and surfaces to evoke or possibly create romanticist spirit and presence. Then, following through to speak to these particular pieces that I have chosen to present, spirit and matter intertwine. This arena, that defies defining, connects to the poetry I use for titles.

This group of ten paintings incorporate a sense of space and atmosphere. Colors are used to convey a sense of personality, a sense of feeling.  These paintings explore the nature of physicality and spirit, often using a grid. The grid is a see-through grid, creating boundaries that enable containment and definition of that play of visual energy which is enhanced through the use of color.

The enigmatic number 7 forms the exterior boundaries of these fields of color. The number 7, a viable part of Medieval numerology is a symbolic representation of spirit and matter. That sense of magic as
experienced in the Middle Ages and read about in Tolkein’s texts and brought to the popular
imagination by Peter Jackson is an important part of the process in creating these pieces.
(I have always been a Tolkein fan; I love how Middle Earth conveys that magical sense of the Middle Ages.)