The Knapp Gallery is excited at introducing Katherine Kurtz for her first exhibition at Knapp and welcoming back Marjorie Grigonis in their dual show Found But No Less Valued. Cooperatives from the Third street Gallery on 2nd S, Kurtz and Grigonis are well versed with the other's work. But No less Valued, a cognitive based exhibition, albeit a visual display, directs the viewer to introspection, desiring an awakening within our sedentary and laden perspectives.
The notion of dualism, the state of being two parts in one, best describes the impetus behind matching up Marjorie and Katherine. Good art is about duality. Found but no less Valued is a results-oriented body of work of divergent paths, mediums and philosophies sets the stage of complex yet organic visual conversation between minimalism and liberalism. The resulting visual aesthetic, under the umbrella of dualism is an art form in and of itself. Working with found materials, discarded vellum printed with architectural and topographical renderings, Marjorie's direction called for a "spooning" with preexisting content. Dichotomous to Marjorie's approach is Katherine's amorous affinity with the organics of freshly applied gesso; starting from ground zero.
Challenged to respond to preexisting stimuli, Marjorie redefines the parameters of her comfort level. Traditionally a deconstructionist, Marjorie was given to a cognitive chess game, weighing at every turn the costs of adding material. The ensuing waltz as an abstraction between printed architectural renderings and the organics of applied mixed media is melancholic and provoking. Assimilation required keen skills set of assessing variables not normally associated within her traditional genre. Defining success for Marjorie's work requires acknowledgment of an evident synergy and symbiosis between her marks and architectural ink renderings.
Katherine, a practicing Gestalt Therapist, liking the clinical participation of painting as a tool, enjoys feedback. She doesn't talk much about her art, desiring a work-driven demonstrable and definitive efficacy. However, she will talk about the process "...we let go of our own proscriptive thinking and then make possible the exploration and creation of new ways of being or dealing in the world... we access extra-cognitive information, melding feeling, sensory data, and imagination with thought into new ways of being. Gestalt therapy's respect for images, dreams, nightmares, and humor is legendary, so it is no surprise to me that in my work as a clinician and in my life as a painter, I find much that overlaps."
Countering Marjorie's minimalism, Katherine's liberal applying of paint, layer upon layer, with overlay of a strong under-painting leaves a dynamic interfacing at the negative space line; nothing short of luscious. An early Diebenkorn-esque outcome, Katherine is not shy about saying she is a fan. Bold line moves you around the canvas. A keen sense of space, perspective and depth, strong shapes and color- her pure abstract works hold a firm declarative territorial line. In a divergent path, Kurtz alternates with a soft blending of color, shade and light.