SHERRY KARVER Thoughts Left Visible
catalog
4107 Hillsboro Circle Nashville, TN 37215 615 297 0296
March 11th – April 22nd 2017 Opening reception Saturday March 11th, 6 – 8PM
Please call for prices 615 297 0296 www.cumberlandgallery.com
“My work is informed by the multitude of issues we encounter living in a metropolitan area: loneliness and alienation in our fast-paced society, the concept of personal identity and the loss of it, the passage of time, the individual as part of the crowd, and how we can stand out from the ‘sea of sameness’.” Sherry Karver
The Sequential Nature of Time, mixed media on panel, 40” x 30” x 2”, 2016.
Background of Our Future, mixed media on panel, 30” x 40” x 2”, 2016.
Road Map of Life, mixed media on panel, 25” x 30” x 2”, 2015.
The Past Is The Past, mixed media on panel, 30” x 45” x 2”, 2016.
Middle of the Road, mixed media on panel, 30” x 20” x 2”, 2017.
Then and Now, mixed media on panel, 30” x 40” x 2”, 2016.
Without Hesitation, mixed media on panel, 30” x 25” x 2”, 2016.
Until Then, mixed media on panel, 40” x 22” x 2”, 2017.
Vanishing Truths, mixed media on panel, 24” x 24” x 2”, 2017.
Notes to Self #1, mixed media on panel, 20” x 30” x 2”, 2017.
What We’re Looking For, mixed media on panel, 24” x 18” x 2”, 2017.
Biography Based in California, Sherry Karver has taught and painted professionally for over 35 years. She earned her MFA from the Newcomb School of Art at Tulane University and has shown in major cities including London, New York, Chicago, Santa Fe, and Los Angeles. Notable shows among her long exhibit history are The National Jewish Museum in D.C., The Morris Graves Museum of Art, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art ( curated by Peter Frank), and the Peninsula Museum of Art among many others. Corporate collections include Rockford Art Museum, Crocker Museum of Art, United Airlines, Apple, and AT&T. Thoughts Left Visible is Sherry’s first solo show at Cumberland Gallery.
Artist Statement
My photo-based work originates from photographs I have taken on city streets in New York, Paris, Milan, and in iconic buildings such as Grand Central Terminal and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY. I am expanding and shifting the parameters of traditional photography by combining it with oil painting, narrative text, and resin surface on wood panels. By blending these mediums, it enables me to push beyond their conventional boundaries to create a new hybrid. These are one-of-a-kind works, not photo editions, and all of the color is hand-painted with oils. I have always lived in large cities, so my work is informed by the multitude of issues we encounter living in a metropolitan area: loneliness and alienation in our fast-paced society, the concept of personal identity and the loss of it, the passage of time, the individual as part of the crowd, and how we can stand out from the ‘sea of sameness’, since we each have our own unique voice and stories to tell. I began writing text over some of the figures in my photos as a way to personalize or individualize them, and make them stand out from the crowd. These brief stories about the people are from my imagination, based solely on their appearance or stance. By using text in my work, it adds another layer, and gives the viewer a chance to “experience” the artwork, and become part of the process by reading it. There is a light humor to my work but I ask the spectator to go further and deeper. I want them to dissolve the narrative and address the experience.
I superimpose these ”biographies” on top of the individuals, almost as if they are wearing their stories like an article of clothing. I try to give a little bit of history about the person; where they are from, their age, what they do, their hopes, their dreams, and often something embarrassing or personal that they would rather not have revealed. The figures are often caught in movement, conveying our individual journeys, where we are all "collectively alone". I see a connection between photography and history, sometimes combining vintage B&W photos with my contemporary shots, and incorporating ‘ghost-like apparitions’. These figures represent the passage of time – all the people that have been in the exact same place but at a different moment – maybe only five minutes before, or ten years in the future. We are all connected in this time continuum, even if we aren’t aware of it. My work embraces the contemporary non-linear view of time with its randomness, spontaneity, and chance occurrences. The concept of juxtaposing the past and the present, has led to my interest in photographing people among the ancient sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum, including giving anthropomorphic qualities to the sculptures themselves. In my work the documentary nature of the B&W photograph merges with the painterly qualities of oil, establishing a dialogue between the two. I mount my black & white images on top of 2” deep wood panels, and hand paint them with numerous layers of oil glazes to build up the color. The final surface has a glossy UV resin coating so the viewer can see their own reflection, and become ‘part’ of the photo-based work.