Bettcher Gallery | Eric Kunde

ERIC KUNDE

My primary goal in painting is to create a perceptual representation of my subjects based on both an intellectual and an emotional response to them. To communicate not only how a person or thing appears, but how it feels to look--what is involved in seeing something in a subjective, personal way. This also entails an effort to portray what is integral about each subject without distracting details. Consequently, my work tends to be quite stylized. People often refer to my paintings as "realistic" or "photographic", but I tend to disagree with these terms as they imply a much greater degree of objective reporting about either appearances or photographic distortions. My approach is to paint what I mainly notice about something and then try to reconcile this with how I feel in the act of looking at it.

One of my main interests is the idea of an "uncomfortable beauty". To expose a subject to such a degree that it gives rise to a feeling bordering on embarrassment when viewed at first, but to then combine this with an underlying sympathy that makes it bearable to continue to look. Alternately, I am interested in treating repellent subjects in a flattering way in order to create a simultaneous feeling of attraction and revulsion in viewers. Both of these approaches inherently imply that the viewer is in the position of an involuntary voyeur, and the subject is vulnerable--but I believe this vulnerability is moderated by a strong sense of self- containment in the subjects themselves. There is no reason, finally, to feel guilty for looking because the subjects have offered themselves willingly for public scrutiny. Much of this reasoning rises from the lesson that "staring is rude," and is ultimately an attempt to satisfy this urge.

In the past I was interested in creating works with a strongly implied, but undefined, narrative content. Recently I have been working and thinking in a more purely visual way, concentrating on color, light, and compositions as ends in themselves. The human form is still my central interest, but now I am more concerned with integrating it into a mainly visual, or semi-abstract context than a literal, narrative format.

My recent work continues to focus on the figure through subjective representation. The context has shifted from a fairly literal, narrative structure to one concerned with purely visual elements. Light, color, and space are now presented as autonomous elements. This creates tension between the representational content and a sense of the figure as a physical object.I want viewers to be taken in by the illusion of the representation while simultaneously maintaining a strong awareness of the paint surface and quality of application. Alex Katz is an artist who explores similar issues whom I admire. There is a directness about his work that I am also impressed by.

Very recently I've begun painting pictures that are blurred. I began them as exercises to loosen the final product and to execute a work that could be completed alla prima-- in one session. After completing several, I've found that they accomplish by other means many of the things my other works are concerned with. The same sense of tension between what is being represented and a strong awareness of the means by which it is executed. This is an approach I am continuing to explore.

Born: 1969

Education:

1989-1992 Art Students' League, New York, NY
1988-1989 Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH

Solo Exhibitions:

1999 Bettcher Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
1999 Bettcher Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
1998 Cleveland Independent Art, Cleveland, OH
1993 Artino Gallery, Cleveland, OH
1991 Wildwood Cultural Center, Mentor, OH

Group Exhibitions:

1999 Bonfoy and Company, Cleveland, OH
1999 Bettcher Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
1998 Concept Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
1998 Bonfoy and Company, Cleveland, OH
1998 Bettcher Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
1998 Altered Image Gallery, Cleveland, OH
1997 Bonfoy and Company, Cleveland, OH
1997 Cleveland Independent Art, Cleveland, OH
1992 Museum Without Walls, Bemus Point, NY
1992 Saint Ignatius Loyola Church, New York, NY

Publications:

1999 Letakis, Patricia, "Silent and Simple Statement", Where Miami, Miami,
FL, April
Sasser, Michael, Review, Sunpost, Miami Beach, FL, April
" The Arts", Entertainment News and Views, Miami, FL, April
Everett, Paulette, "Fine Art", Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, FL, April
1998 Green, Frank, "Skin Flint", The Cleveland Free Times, April
Tranberg, Dan, "Art From the Heart", The Cleveland Free Times, November
1997 New American Paintings, Volume 2, Number 5, July-August
1991 Winston, Deborah, Editorial, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, May
Aylsworth, Jennifer, Editorial, News-Herald, May

Awards:

1990 Merit Scholarship, Art Students' League of New York
1988 Portfolio Scholarship, Cleveland Institute of Art

Home | Artists | Exhibitions | Gallery