Being from a small town on the East Coast of the US, I had almost no contact with people from other cultures. Going to TASIS England opened my eyes to people coming from all kinds of countries. Also, seeing how European societies differ made me...
Being from a small town on the East Coast of the US, I had almost no contact with people from other cultures. Going to TASIS England opened my eyes to people coming from all kinds of countries. Also, seeing how European societies differ made me realize that the United States is just one of many systems.
I took oil painting classes when I was seven and had taken other art courses every so often, but it took off during a foundation course here in Berlin. I was doing a Masters of Art at an art school here, and painting was part of the curriculum. The more I painted, the more I wanted to paint. The process is very satisfying. But not just painting, doing art, expressing myself creatively. It gives me the power to go through life. Art can be very powerful in its statement. You can say so much more through art because you go beyond rationality and speak to people's subconscious.
I'm working on a large exhibition I'm going to have in Berlin in January, consisting of 35 paintings. Besides that, I have projects at all stages of development, and they never really end. I can go back and add to old projects or alter things after getting some distance from them. Ongoing, I love painting portraits, and in the summer I work on landscape painting. Sometimes an individual topic will come to me, and then I will do a series. Of course, there are always ideas that stay in the brainstorming stage and may not get realized.
I love the period of art from about 1850 to 1940 when, after the invention of photography, art started to move away from realism. I can never stop looking at Cézanne, Degas, van Gogh, early Picasso. I like movements; Cubism, Futurism, Impressionism, and some Expressionism. As for contemporary artists, I like Marina Abramovic because she lives for art and goes to the limit to make people reflect. I like the way Elizabeth Peyton draws people in very quickly yet catches their personality. At some point, I would like to work on projects like Olafu Eliasson, who mixes art and science in a very smart and elegant way. I admire the extremes Santiago Sierra goes to show inequality and exploitation in society. I like Beatriz Milhazes' playful colorful mandala-like paintings, and I like Lucian Freud's depiction of people, one of my favorites being, "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping." He only portrays her, but you see her frustrating, unfulfilled, bland, probably unpleasant character. Though she's just sleeping, you can read so much into the situation from her surroundings. It's honest without being overdramatic (muted color palette). I like when art doesn't tell you how to react but makes you reflect.
To love color, to see patterns around you, to practice a lot, and to look at a lot of art. You have to be able to whittle things down to their essence to reflect them back to society, which I believe is the purpose of an artist.
Yes. Once I left the Northeast of the United States and went to TASIS England, I realized there are many different ways to live, different value systems, various types of societies. Having been fortunate to have lived in five countries and traveled to many others, I have accumulated a wealth of experience, which of course influences the topics I choose to work on. I don't do worldly pictures, but the results come from the sum of my experience. For instance, the Berlin pictures relate to my architecture experience. I also did an animal series, which reflects on human behavior. Yet the portraits and landscapes reflect my personal view of these subjects. So it's not like I interpret my experiences one to one in my art, but it's there in the undertones, so to speak.
You have to live as a creative person. Art is not something that you do from 12 to 5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays - it's in your soul. The more you see life through creative eyes, the better your art will become and the richer your life. Also, it's important to have a backup profession to pay your bills. Art is probably the most difficult job to live from. There are so many artists out there who cannot sell their work and live in dire straits. I'd love to live from my art, but I'm teaching part time. Having an alternative income also frees you to do art that you want to do instead of trying to align yourself with what is trendy at the moment. That's the only way you will stand out from the crowd and have your voice be heard.
For more about Kathryn's artwork, go to knussdorf.de.
This article first appeared in the TASIS England Alumni eNews, Winter 2012 issue.