NYAB Event - Julia Kuhl “Look On/In”

Julia Kuhl “Look On/In”

frosch & portmann

This event has ended.

In the first series, Kuhl examines the theatricality of the commonplace and makes observation itself her subject. The men and women whom she has, over the years, photographed on city streets and in art galleries are taken either entirely out of context or given minimal surroundings and are presented as characters for an as of yet unwritten play. In several of the drawings, the viewer becomes a kind of meta spectator, observing not only the object of observation, but also the observer. The delicacy of the brushstroke ads to the sense of fragility and transience. The abundant negative space isolates the figures, specimen like, bringing their every detail and gesture to the fore.

With the drawings in the second series, Kuhl continues her preoccupation with the symbolic as well as literal position of figures in space. Her subjects here inhabit an often inhospitable dream-like landscape or are themselves entangled or otherwise constricted. In some of the drawings, the fluid, spidery lines meander through ambiguous dream scenarios; in others, just a few brush strokes evoke much more than they depict.

The two sets of drawings - while differing in subject matter - are unified in their emphasis on conveying the maximum amount of ‘information’ with minimum possible detail. While all the work seems calm on the surface, the inclusion of only the ‘essential’ elements communicates a sense of urgency.