Artist Statement

This series of paint surfaces served art students of various abilities as supports for easel painting activities. Originally, these surfaces maintained their intended function as tabletops and drawing boards, only to be radically transformed over the next twenty-five years. Processes that had no focus other than to provide a convenient place for the mixing of paint, usually relegated to a palette were the basis of their creation. This activity was an act of vandalism -- tolerated -- but the long-term result rendered these studio props useless. Their replacement with new drawing boards and tabletops restored the function of the studio props, leaving the fate of the violated surfaces unresolved. My immediate preference was the trash bin for this unruly lot. As I pondered alternatives, curious aspects of these surfaces revealed unfamiliar visual characteristics. They lacked the cohesion and resolution associated with painting, and did not conform to the analytical and perceptual rigor color mixing requires. I found this collective of anarchistic activity, compiled over a quarter of a century, fascinating and invigorating. Where Pollock’s paintings project a cohesive contained energy, these celebrate the disruptive world of chaos and dislocation. ………. INFIDELS.

Kaare Rafoss, 2019

Sustained Investigations

The Berrie Center Art Galleries, NJ

Exhibiting artists are: Frances Barth, paintings and animation; Cicely Cottingham, paintings; Joanne Howard, various media and installation; Kaare Rafoss, neo-conceptual painting.

Curated by: Lena Hyun & Sydney O. Jenkins

https://www.ramapo.edu/news/press-releases/sustained-investigations-exhibition-opens-at-ramapo-college/

KAARE RAFOSS

KAARE RAFOSS