Kim Abraham Artist Statement
Any place, even a forgotten, quiet, and still place, is alive and constantly changing, moving, and breathing as if there is a heartbeat present. My first deep connection to place was the red dirt of my childhood Georgia, where I imagined that the stained earth held a trace of those who came before me. I now encounter a quiet drama in the sky and landscape that reminds me of that red clay, a dream, or a living mystery.
I have always been immersed in the natural world and spent the first twenty-plus years as a painter working only outdoors, directly from the landscape. While my work has involved traditional landscape themes and images, my paintings often also explore a realm where science, nature, thought, and painting mingle in a visual field. Glimpses of early human markings, the microscopic world, details of landscape, and distant galaxies are all sometimes recast in my attempt to create a different drama. I am also curious of how we put dots and lines together to form order and a landscape we recognize. I am deeply influenced by the nature of place, and I often return to the direct study of nature. My observations have informed a perspective on landscape, and as I paint, I think less about capturing a passive pastoral view and more about framing an active concept of time and space. I seek a sense of reaching into rather than just walking about in one of my paintings.
An exploration of what lies at the heart of a place and what I sense about a place is what concerns me most. I see a sometimes-chaotic world with layers of meaning magnified in a drop of water, energized through an insect swarm, or swirled about with distant timeless galactic images. Life can be seen from this micro to macro view, and nothing is quite as it seems as in Dutch naturalist Leeuwenhoek’s first look into his microscope. I am fascinated encountering the beautiful natural decay of a forest floor, but also absorbing the sublime gentleness of a dark sky. The structures and layers that determine a typical Spring awakening or celestial observation are hints for my painting imagery.
I explore and question, but do not try to render or simplify natural elements experienced in nature. Compositions I seek are expressions beyond a sense of calm, and I hope to animate connections that question norms of the natural world and artistic intent. I choose to explore and confront chaos as a constant that forms the underpinnings of life and most things that we see and encounter each day. We often crave order, finding celestial constellations and pursuing beguiling sunsets, but I seek traces of complexity that I cannot label or quantify, like the flight of a Dragon Fly. These traces guide me to explore new paths and inspire me to paint.
Kim Abraham
I have always been immersed in the natural world and spent the first twenty-plus years as a painter working only outdoors, directly from the landscape. While my work has involved traditional landscape themes and images, my paintings often also explore a realm where science, nature, thought, and painting mingle in a visual field. Glimpses of early human markings, the microscopic world, details of landscape, and distant galaxies are all sometimes recast in my attempt to create a different drama. I am also curious of how we put dots and lines together to form order and a landscape we recognize. I am deeply influenced by the nature of place, and I often return to the direct study of nature. My observations have informed a perspective on landscape, and as I paint, I think less about capturing a passive pastoral view and more about framing an active concept of time and space. I seek a sense of reaching into rather than just walking about in one of my paintings.
An exploration of what lies at the heart of a place and what I sense about a place is what concerns me most. I see a sometimes-chaotic world with layers of meaning magnified in a drop of water, energized through an insect swarm, or swirled about with distant timeless galactic images. Life can be seen from this micro to macro view, and nothing is quite as it seems as in Dutch naturalist Leeuwenhoek’s first look into his microscope. I am fascinated encountering the beautiful natural decay of a forest floor, but also absorbing the sublime gentleness of a dark sky. The structures and layers that determine a typical Spring awakening or celestial observation are hints for my painting imagery.
I explore and question, but do not try to render or simplify natural elements experienced in nature. Compositions I seek are expressions beyond a sense of calm, and I hope to animate connections that question norms of the natural world and artistic intent. I choose to explore and confront chaos as a constant that forms the underpinnings of life and most things that we see and encounter each day. We often crave order, finding celestial constellations and pursuing beguiling sunsets, but I seek traces of complexity that I cannot label or quantify, like the flight of a Dragon Fly. These traces guide me to explore new paths and inspire me to paint.
Kim Abraham