POSTSCRIPT KAREN VOGEL
POSTSCRIPT KAREN VOGEL
“I use the symbolism of print, typography, and architectural and organic forms to explore the monumental shifts that have emerged from the breakdown of social cohesion—the infrastructure that supports social structure and communication that links us as social beings. I’m trying to create some order. The letters don’t mean anything. There are no words. I’m interested in the shapes.” Karen Vogel
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POSTSCRIPT by Karen Vogel Featured at the Lionheart Gallery New Exhibition opens on May 6, 2017 through July 2, 2017 In an exhibit opening May 6 at The Lionheart Gallery in Pound Ridge, N.Y., entitled Postscript, Connecticut artist Karen Vogel summons the symbolism of print, typography, and architectural and organic forms “to explore the monumental shifts that have emerged from the breakdown of social cohesion—the infrastructure that supports social structure and communication that links us as social beings.” The painter and printmaker has developed her own personal language of visual cyphers that point to the erosion of once valued formal systems of communication and social interaction. Vogel’s strikingly graphic works, which exalt paper, begin with the structure of hand-cut text stencils, and evolve through layers of multiple forms, textures, patterns, and processes. Forms are printed or painted, removed, covered, uncovered, overlapped, deleted, repeated, builtup and broken-down. The resulting interplay of positive and negative spaces generates tension between cohesion and disorder. In the process, Vogel manages to create the feeling of wave-like movement and a sense of musicality to that flow. “I’m tying to create some order,” says the artist, who lives in Darien and maintains a studio in Norwalk. “The letters don’t mean anything. There are no words. I’m interested in the shapes.” How they intertwine and interact embodies the essential bond between order and chaos—the bond being dissolved by the discontents of Digital Age technology. Taking inspiration from Stuart Davis, the artist’s works, with a whisper of homage to Charles DeMuth’s “I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold,” and a sense of Mondrian’s particular boogiewoogie, also indirectly reference the brilliance of poet Wallace Stevens, who cites “the maker’s rage to order words of the sea” in the poem “The Idea of Order at Key West.” Vogel artistically “rages” in ordering elements signifying the importance of the structured communication and social cohesion that held society together in earlier eras. It’s a quietly powerful rage that shows reverence for formal elements—and one that might suggest a mental soundtrack for viewing Postscript, the chorus of Led Zeppelin’s hit song “Communication Breakdown”: Communication breakdown/It’s always the same/I’m having a nervous breakdown/Drive me insane!
Society’s had the nervous breakdown, and Karen Vogel is using her talent as an artist to try to restore some order. Vogel has studied painting and drawing at The Art Students League, The Corcoran College of Art and Design, The San Francisco Art Institute and The Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk. Her prints and paintings have been featured in museums and galleries across the country, including the Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport, the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Fairfield University and the Brooklyn Front Gallery. Postscript runs from May 6 through July 2. An opening reception is scheduled for May 6, from 4 to 7 p.m., and a talk by the artist is scheduled June 10 in an event from 4 to 6 p.m. The talk will begin at 5. The Lionheart Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. For more information and directions to the gallery at 27 Westchester Avenue in Pound Ridge, N.Y., call the gallery at 914.764.8689 or visit the website at www.thelionheartgallery.com
POSTSCRIPT KAREN VOGEL
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Crossover, 2017 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 24” x 24”
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Roma, 2017 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 36” x 36”
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Worlds Apart, 2017 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 36” x 36”
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Cross Fit, 2017 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 24” x 24”
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I Spy, 2017 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 24” x 24”
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December 25th, 2017 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 12” x 12”
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One Way, 2017 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 12” x 12”
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ARC, 2017 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 18” x 18”
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Configuration, 2015 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 12” x 12”
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Somewhere, 2017 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 10” x 10”
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Truck Stop, 2017 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 10” x 10”
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No Trespassing, 2016 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 8” x 8”
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Pink Sands, 2016 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 8” x 8”
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Building Blocks, 2016 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 8” x 8”
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Curve Ball, 2017 Mixed Media on Wood Panel 8” x 8”
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Memorial Park, 2015 Monoprint 30� x 22�
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Purple Haze, 2015 Monoprint 30” x 22”
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Mixed Signals, 2015 Monoprint 30” x 22”
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ACE Monoprint, 2017 Monoprint 30” x 22”
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Sidewinder I, 2015 Monprint 29.75” x 19.25”
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Sidewinder II, 2015 Monprint 29.75” x 19.25”
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Daze II, 2017 Monoprint 30” x 22”
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Sunny Side, 2017 Monoprint 30” x 22”
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Tango, 2017 Monoprint 30” x 22”
ARTSY EDITORIAL
BY DOUGLAS P. CLEMENT
WRITTEN BY DOUGLAS P. CLEMENT
LIONHEART FIVE
AN INTERVIEW WITH KAREN VOGEL
interview by gallery director susan d. grissom
Karen Vogel in her stuido, Photo Credit: Karen Vogel
Trinkets from a flea market, Photo Credit: Karen Vogel
An example of the printing process, Photo Credit: Karen Vogel
Karen Vogel’s garden, Photo Credit: Karen Vogel
This catalogue was published to accompany the POSTSCRIPT Exhibition at The Lionheart Gallery. Karen Vogel POSTSCRIPT, May 2017 All images copyright of the artist. Images of the works are reproduced courtesy of the artist and The Lionheart Gallery. Curated by Susan Grissom Designed by Chelsea Walsh Press Release and Review by Douglas P. Clement All rights reserved. No part of this book may be produced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission in writing of the copyright holder and The Lionheart Gallery. 914 764 8689 www.thelionheartgallery.com 27 Westchester Avenue, Pound Ridge, NY 10576