Kathleen Kucka at The Re Institute
Millerton, NY
Through October 26th
If art is not representing something, if it's not mimetic, what is it? It could be made up of signs or symbols that refer to some system of understanding. At best it might use its lack of plastic objecthood to conjure up something subconscious. It could use actions rather than things to do so.
Kathleen Kucka's new show at the Re Institute shares with an artist friend Janet Stemmermann continues her project of burn-marked canvases.
The space is large, filled with uncluttered light and betrays green folds of New York landscape from large windows. These beautiful canvases need space around them.
They act as a reversal of normal painting as the gesture cuts into the ground to reveal the colour behind. The raw canvas is scored by a hot blade. It's then laid on to a surface coloured by Flashe.
It is a slow read which helps to separate them from the influence of Lucio Fontana whose cuts can appear like a sudden murderous lunge.
Kucka's are sensual. The dyptych "Every-Thing" is exemplary. The marks move across the surface in an undulating pattern. The colour behind rises in a gradation from pumpkin to sign yellow. There is a hint of early Kusama with the same suggestion of the violence of revelation.
The night after seeing the show I dreamed of a favourite painting, Titian's "The Flaying of Marsayas." The metaphor can be the same, whether it's acted out or Represented.
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The Re Institute, 1395 Boston Corners Road, Millerton, NY
Shows are open from 1 to 4 PM on Saturdays or by appointment at 518-567-5359.