Expansions and Stratifications - work by Karl Jensen and Ken Wood September 3, 2011

Expansions and Stratifications
Karl Jensen and Ken Wood
September 2 – October 1
Opening Reception Friday, September 2, 6 – 10 PM

Good Citizen invites you to Expansions and Stratifications, an exhibition featuring the work of Karl Jensen and Ken Wood

Structure, the behavior of materials, and pattern repetition inform this work as the artists draw from or react against their modernist training in architecture.

Karl Jensen's highly articulated riffs on conventional construction techniques pay homage to the craft of building while expressing a desire for what is missing in contemporary architecture: richly detailed form that transcends function and exists solely for its own pleasure. The works in this show, considered "Expansions" by the artist, draw from one path of this endeavor. Paring down his variables to a single material and limiting his manipulations to vertical and horizontal cuts, Jensen shows us that economy of means needn't be tiresome; while keeping each piece of paper intact as a single contiguous web, he is still able to create seemingly limitless formal inventions, opening a window for the viewer into a world of infinite variations.
These expansions are part of an ongoing series of studies in the behavior of materials; in this case, paper's behavior under the simple influence of gravity. Changes to the width of elements and lines of force affect the camber of the material, thereby creating subtle variations across the entire field. Relying on gravity alone, the sculptures expand from flat to relief and from a rectangular plane to a shimmering floriated surface. Although much simpler, the expansions still retain the complexity and dynamic interplay of Jensen's earlier multi-material, interlocked, stacked and folded constructions.

Ken Wood builds up a language of straight versus curved elements to create his abstract compositions. These two contrasting geometries play off of each other as he assigns them different roles: the architectural world around us and the inhabitants who occupy and, in some cases, complete it. Systems of horizontal and vertical lines are layered on top of biomorphic forms, sometimes resulting in a clash that seems irreconcilable, and sometimes converging harmonically. This layering of systems builds up a series of "Strata," from which the body of work in this show takes its name. The two languages keep each other in check and sometimes trade roles, placing the grid in motion and leaving the curves pinned and immovable. In all this lies the message that there is constant negotiation and reconfiguration between ourselves and the built environment, and that the permanence we strive for will always elude us.

BIO

Karl Jensen was born in Texas in 1964. He received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Rice University in 1989 and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from Hunter College in 1994. His work has been exhibited at the Drawing Center in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati. He has also earned a number of public art commissions, including a collaborative project for a footbridge in Phoenix, Arizona, and set designs for both the MusicNow Festival in Cincinnati and for The National at Summerstage in Central Park, New York City. Jensen is also a practicing architect. His work as a partner with the firm of Birds Portchmouth Russum Architects in London, England, has been widely exhibited in Europe, including the Royal Academy in London and the Architekturmuseum in Basel, Switzerland and the National Academy in New York. Jensen has received awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Architectural League of New York. His work as both an artist and an architect has been reviewed in Art in America, Architectural Record, The New York Times and The Village Voice. He is currently working on a small commission for an upcoming CD release by Sufjan Stevens. Jensen lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Examples of Karl Jensen’s work can be seen at http://www.karl-jensen.com/

Ken Wood earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Rice University in Houston, TX and a Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia/Rome. He has exhibited his paintings, drawings and prints in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Texas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Missouri, Mississippi and in Italy, and he has painted murals in California, Virginia and Pennsylvania. In addition to making art, he has also curated two shows: "Flatland," at Temple Gallery in Rome, Italy, featuring artists who playfully subvert Modernism; and "Nests, Shells and Corners," in St. Louis, MO, showcasing six artists who investigate place, displacement, and occupying the unexpected. He has taught drawing and design at the Rhode Island School of Design, Wesleyan University, Temple University in Rome, Virginia Tech, and Washington University, and is currently Assistant Professor of Art at St. Louis Community College Meramec. In his previous occupation he worked for the Philadelphia architecture firm Venturi Scott Brown Associates.
Examples of Ken Wood’s work can be seen at http://kenwoodstudio.com/
Good Citizen regular hours are: Fridays and Saturday Noon – 5 PM and by appointment