Joseph Kohnke and Karen Kazmer-Hollow/Shallow

January 16 – February 26, 2009

Opening and Artist talk: Friday January 16, at 7 PM

A collaborative exhibition set out to examine ordinary inanimate spaces and objects by incorporating various modes of respiration in two diverse pneumatic installations. The movement of air acts as a fragile connector between elements in both pieces questioning the experience and positioning of the viewer. In Kohnke's Hollow, fifteen harmonicas are played by mechanized units resembling human lips creating a resonant, hauntingly eerie sound while Kazmer's Shallow, an inflated cloud-like sculpture, reacts to the movement of the viewer by shifting and twitching as it is being approached. Although both works appear relatively calm and benign, they also allude to anxiety, poetic memory and bodily restrictions. The endless cycles of mechanized respiration never stopping, never giving up.

Joseph Kohnke was born in the Central Bay Area, California in 1973. He received his BFA with an emphasis in sculpture from San Jose State University in California and his MFA with an emphasis in art and technology from The School of Art, Institute of Chicago in Illinois. He currently lives and works in southern Califonia, while also actively producing and exhibiting art.

Born in the Chicago area, Karen Kazmer studied at Loyola University, University of British Columbia and York University. Her work centers on mixed media installations and public art that address issues of the body and social spaces. Previous site-specific works have been constructed in Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria and San Francisco.