| Kerry Ware’s most recent exhibition at The Dorsch Gallery submerges the viewer in a realm of abstract seascapes. Inspired by electro-acoustic music, Ware’s conceptualized aesthetic unites the tangible and the intangible. Looking at his work, one can almost hear the staccato puncturing of the wooden dowels in the plaster panels, offset by the rhythmic flow of contrasting colors fusing into one another. His work is a visual portrayal of the arpeggio-like synthetic riffs and unheard sound effects of the electro-musical instrumentation. |  |
Before The Wave – Carolina Marquez
Kerry Ware’s most recent exhibition at The Dorsch Gallery submerges the viewer in a realm of abstract seascapes. Inspired by electro-acoustic music, Ware’s conceptualized aesthetic unites the tangible and the intangible. Looking at his work, one can almost hear the staccato puncturing of the wooden dowels in the plaster panels, offset by the rhythmic flow of contrasting colors fusing into one another. His work is a visual portrayal of the arpeggio-like synthetic riffs and unheard sound effects of the electro-musical instrumentation.
Ware’s creations, much like the source of his inspiration, emphasize experimentation. He goes beyond the boundaries of simply applying color to a textured surface—he instead seeks to create harmony through layering paint on plaster. His technique, a complex and time-consuming one, achieves different results in each painting, allowing him to build a relationship with his work that is causal to its success. Ware begins by pouring plaster onto a board; he then applies thin coats of oil paint and allows them to dry to a matte surface. After this, he begins to mold the surfaces by sanding and cutting them with razors. Every brush stroke, every cut and every layer of paint that is sanded away is intuitive, revealing the different layers beneath the surface. Quoting Ware, this is a process of “putting paint down and taking it away, over and over—in a sense ‘burying’ it into the surface so that it all becomes one.”
Most notably, Ware stimulates our senses with pieces that are rather small in scale. Two small works (a mere 8.5 inches by 8.5 inches), titled Before the Wave 1 and Before the Wave 2, bring the viewer’s thoughts to an underwater world. One in which there is no air, no light, only water, yet somehow, instead of instilling the viewer with a sense of desperation, one feels soothed by the overwhelming tranquility of the blue hues.
In Before the Wave 2, Ware’s sense of composition is exhibited at its best. At the top, one can just make out signs of the sun penetrating the surface. Ware sands away the top layer, revealing the layers beneath the blue while leaving visible the heavy brushstrokes. The outer edges of this work are richly textured, giving the viewer a feeling of slow immersion into a luscious sea, in anticipation of the wave—not anxiously, but with craving for the serenity of the water’s movement.
Before The Wave, although influenced by nature, is not a compilation of scenic seascapes, but rather a demonstration of Ware’s acute sense of composition and the artist’s innate tendency to make paint morph into an image. “I make no conscious effort to capture an actual ‘look,’” he says. “Once I start painting, it is the paint that interests me most. Through a series of mistakes and accidents, I attempt to search for the experience that light and atmosphere provide.”
Being in the presence of his work, one can’t help but admit that Ware’s work is not solely a visual treat, but also a sensual experience. It has an inviting intimacy; and it inspires the viewer to become introspective. “At best, I hope for my work to elicit an aesthetic experience that will parallel the one which nature provides,” he says. Before The Wave is testament to this, and more.
