artist statement

My work alludes to an underlying current of knowing that is governed by feelings and emotions. The images that I produce are symbolic of an inner-personal and vulnerable human existence. They develop their identity through spontaneity, intuition, association, and chance.

In making art, I am only aware of the forces I use in order to move along the course of my pictures. The course of my art is a visual translation of internal feelings, thoughts, and emotions in relation to the inner condition of self.

process

The work involves a variety of materials and processes. The materials used include: paper, paint, inks, marker, pencil, glue and dried paint chips and paint skins. My work involves aspects of painting, drawing, collage and assemblage.

The idea of using dried paint chips came about as a byproduct of the process that I go through when painting on canvas. When working on canvas, I paint and scrape off the paint a number of times to achieve a surface appropriate for the painting. During this process, a lot of paint falls to the floor and dries.

Through this process, I realized the random beauty that lives within the surfaces of the dried paint and decided it was still very much useful. I started re-applying the dry paint chips to my canvases at first, but then discovered the possibilities of scaling down the size of the current work to 5×7 inches on paper. I use the paint chip in its natural form as well as manipulate it to a desired form. I also fabricate acrylic paint skins and then manipulate them into final abstract figures on paper and wood panels. Approaching my work the way that I do, I am able to fulfill a desire to collage, assemble and sculpt without straying from my original discipline of painting.

Studios Inc’s latest exhibition, CURATOR’S CHOICE, invited nine curators to chose an artwork from the Studios Inc Collection to showcase and share their thoughts about the work. The exhibition features mixed media, photography, printmaking, painting, drawing, and ceramic work. Participating curators include Alice Gray Stites (Curator for 21c Museum Hotels), CJ Charbonneau ( Plug Projects), Courtney Wasson (Executive Director of Studios Inc), Erin Dziedzic (Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art), JoAnne Northrup (Executive Director of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art), Kimi Kitada (Jedel Family Foundation Curatorial Fellow at Charlotte Street Foundation), Maria Seda-Reeder (Director of Exhibitions and Artist Support Initiatives at Wave Pool), Michael Schonhoff (Director of the KCAI Gallery),and Robb Gann (owner of Habitat Contemporary). Studios Inc artists showcased in the exhibition are Beniah Leuschke, Lori Raye Erickson, HyeYoung Shin, Yoonmi Nam, Kevin Townsend, Miguel Rivera, Emily Sall, Judith G. Levy, and Kathy Liao.

Ada Koch’s preoccupation with war began with her childhood in Oak Ridge, TN where both parents worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories, a production site for the Manhattan Project where researchers developed the atomic bomb. She was persistently reminded of WAR: the Cold War, the Vietnam War, anti-war songs, local bomb shelters, and bomb drills in school. Now, decades later, Ada revisits anti-war protest songs from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s in her quest to understand the repetition of violent cycles. Sadly, the songs of the past are currently relevant in the context of local and international violence.

Collectively, the pieces in this show touch on causes of war (power, fear, confusion, misinformation) which lead to violence, hate, and death. Yet Ada promotes a REMIX, taking what we have learned from a violent history and hoping for a more positive outcome with an emphasis on love and individuals.

Originally from Japan, Michiko Itatani asserts that she is a “made in America” artist. Her paintings reflect her lifelong interest in science fiction and the cosmic, and are inhabited by hovering circles of ight that suggest a spirit, a possibility, a place to go, Infinite Hope.

Itatani is a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she has been a professor of painting since 1979. She has received numerous prestigious awards including the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, two Illinois Arts Council Artist’s Fellowships; and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Her work is held in the public collections of the The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO; Wright Museum, Beloit, WI; Erie Art Museum, Erie, PA; Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland; American Embassy Permanent Collection, Brasilia, Brazil; Villa-Haiss-Museum, Zell am Harmersback, Germany; Tokoha Museum, Shizuoka, Japan; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea; Musee du Quebec, Quebec, Canada; Museu D’art Contemporani (MACBA), Barcelona, Spain and others.