KIM VAN SOMEREN
THE SLANT OF LINE
J. Rinehart Gallery announces The Slant of Line, an exhibition of new hand printed and collaged works on paper by artist and educator, Kim Van Someren. On view August 1 – September 12, 2020. Virtual opening reception Saturday August 1, 2020 from 5-6pm at www.jrinehartgallery.com.
The Slant of Line is a collection of works on paper, drawn from structures found in farming and forests, worship and spirituality, air and warcraft. Referencing the structure and form of building, however these ideas become secondary to the investigations of balance, believability and kinetic potential of that which is inanimate.
Van Someren is interested in the metaphorical gender of structure, and how this can be altered through line, mass, and translucency. The works in this series offer interpretations of how mass and weight can be dictated with the direction, density and content of line.
In conjunction with the exhibition, a digital catalog will be published with an essay written by independent scholar, writer and art advocate, Sharon Arnold.
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The Slant of Line (2020) is a collection of works on paper, drawn from structures found in farming and forests, worship and spirituality, air and warcraft. I am interested in the metaphorical gender of structure, and how this can be altered through line, mass, and translucency. I am drawn to the formidable but am amused with the idea of transforming this into that which is gentle. As someone who believes in tradition shaped by play, mother shaped by child, and bone shaped by water I am always looking to bend that which appears to be stiff.
The works in this series offer interpretations of how mass and weight can be dictated with the direction, density and content of line. Massive forms float and root in empty spaces to allow autonomy within the structures while abandoned engineering of the forms forces the structures to teeter between reality and fiction. The symbiotic use of hand and machine generated lines questions whether or not the building materials are from earth or from engine.
In The Slant of Line, the collaged print structures are made from the same base material stemming from a line made on computer processing software. By exploiting the line through photocopy and hand-printing techniques, the building process takes time, presenting me with opportunities as both manufacturer and builder. The methods used in the paper lithography prints warrant each printed item to be rubbed, rolled, sponged, and printed; each of these steps, an intimate moment between printmaker and paper.
The prints made with carbon printing techniques warrant each mark that is made to be darker or lighter based solely on the blind pressure of my hand. In either case, the structural make-up of the forms insinuates that the delicately lined and layered forms cocoon something else, perhaps something wanting to break free.
The works in the collection are compassed by reactions to the outcome of the previous line and form made. By resisting the urge to pre-direct a structure’s composition, the forms are set up to transform into counter-weighted towers that float while they are planted, and root as they waft by.
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Kim Van Someren is the Instructional Technician in Printmaking, Painting + Drawing and IVA at the University of Washington. She holds an MFA in Printmaking from the University of Washington (2004) and a BA from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse (2002). She has taught Printmaking at Pratt Fine Arts Center, Kirkland Arts Center, the Frye Art Museum, the Seattle Arts Museum, and University of Washington.