Current Exhibit
#4 Darkness - The White Fright; Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire, 2017, acrylic, pencil and oil crayon on yupo paper, 30" x 36"
ITCHING
New work by Kate Simonds
May 22 - July 24, 2017
New work by Kate Simonds
May 22 - July 24, 2017
Statement
“The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be defined is not the unchanging name.” - Lao Tzu
“I have nothing to say and I am saying it.” - John Cage
Excerpts From a 34 Year Long Conversation
Kate Simonds isn’t one for self promotion. That is why I offered to write this introduction for her. These paintings, and my understanding of them, are the result of a thirty-four year long conversation about art. As her son, I have been able to watch her art develop; see it absorb and reflect the changes in her life. The following is not only the result of numerous recent conversations about the works, but also draws from a lifetime of watching my mother paint.
Itching is Kate Simonds’ first exhibit of new work in over a decade, and it combines elements of her earlier works (large format, acrylic paint, multiple layers, appropriated and reworked imagery, humor) with new influences like her practice of Tai Chi and a fascination with the nearly continuous flow of information we are exposed to through social media.
The name of the series is a play on the I Ching, or “Book of Changes”, a three thousand year old Chinese text. At its core are the hexagrams, symbols composed of six horizontal lines, which may be broken or unbroken. These hexagrams provide a structure for Simonds work, a physical as well as metaphysical foundation on which the layers of meaning are built. On top of these repeated patterns, she has layered abstracted organic forms and silhouettes. Leaves, broken sculptures, and children’s scribbles illustrate different aspects of our own spiritual and philosophical struggles. All of this is presented in two dimensions; the paintings are physically multilayered constructions, but all the layers are presented simultaneously. Like the human psyche, the unconscious is always present, and like our minds it is difficult to tell which takes precedence: the clearly visible or the underlying elements.
It is tempting to search for specific meaning in all the disparate imagery. We want to decipher the metaphor and come to one finite and fixed meaning for each painting. That may prove impossible. Hearing her talk about a finished work you sense detachment. For Kate, a completed painting is a dead painting. The conversation between the artist and the work is finished. Once hung in a gallery, a restaurant or private home, it is up to the observer to pick up where she left off, to engage the work and unpack its layers of meaning. This experience is filtered through his or her own psyche, unmediated and undirected by the artist.
Go stand in front of her work. Engage with it. Listen to what it says to you. Have a conversation.
-Tobias Hayduk May, 2017
“The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be defined is not the unchanging name.” - Lao Tzu
“I have nothing to say and I am saying it.” - John Cage
Excerpts From a 34 Year Long Conversation
Kate Simonds isn’t one for self promotion. That is why I offered to write this introduction for her. These paintings, and my understanding of them, are the result of a thirty-four year long conversation about art. As her son, I have been able to watch her art develop; see it absorb and reflect the changes in her life. The following is not only the result of numerous recent conversations about the works, but also draws from a lifetime of watching my mother paint.
Itching is Kate Simonds’ first exhibit of new work in over a decade, and it combines elements of her earlier works (large format, acrylic paint, multiple layers, appropriated and reworked imagery, humor) with new influences like her practice of Tai Chi and a fascination with the nearly continuous flow of information we are exposed to through social media.
The name of the series is a play on the I Ching, or “Book of Changes”, a three thousand year old Chinese text. At its core are the hexagrams, symbols composed of six horizontal lines, which may be broken or unbroken. These hexagrams provide a structure for Simonds work, a physical as well as metaphysical foundation on which the layers of meaning are built. On top of these repeated patterns, she has layered abstracted organic forms and silhouettes. Leaves, broken sculptures, and children’s scribbles illustrate different aspects of our own spiritual and philosophical struggles. All of this is presented in two dimensions; the paintings are physically multilayered constructions, but all the layers are presented simultaneously. Like the human psyche, the unconscious is always present, and like our minds it is difficult to tell which takes precedence: the clearly visible or the underlying elements.
It is tempting to search for specific meaning in all the disparate imagery. We want to decipher the metaphor and come to one finite and fixed meaning for each painting. That may prove impossible. Hearing her talk about a finished work you sense detachment. For Kate, a completed painting is a dead painting. The conversation between the artist and the work is finished. Once hung in a gallery, a restaurant or private home, it is up to the observer to pick up where she left off, to engage the work and unpack its layers of meaning. This experience is filtered through his or her own psyche, unmediated and undirected by the artist.
Go stand in front of her work. Engage with it. Listen to what it says to you. Have a conversation.
-Tobias Hayduk May, 2017
Artist Bio
BFA - Buffalo State College
MFA - University of Buffalo
1987-2013 - Taught Art at Buffalo Seminary
2001-present - Practice and teach Tai Chi at the Taoist Tai Chi Society
BFA - Buffalo State College
MFA - University of Buffalo
1987-2013 - Taught Art at Buffalo Seminary
2001-present - Practice and teach Tai Chi at the Taoist Tai Chi Society
