Like a lot of famous street artists Addison Karl leaves Berlin to find new challenges and to get inspired again.
Before the said good bye he left us an amazing solo exhibition with the title „Chokma, Chinchoma?“
‚Hello, how are you?‘ – in context of mean is an introduction; first to greet you and then to engage you in a culture of vast diversity that once made up the continents of the Americas. In the US currently, there are around 562 Federally Recognized tribes of Native People. A culture that has over 300 spoken languages – not counting those tribes of people that are not federally recognized by the government.
A reduced number of these cultures exist today, but they are alive and well with traditions passed down the way they have been for thousands of years. The wisdom of elders to the next generation. All with a rich cultural, historical, & vibrate heritage. What we generally know about Native American Culture and History gets briefed over in classrooms, portrayed as savages in movies and TV, or romanticized in holidays when suited for the desire of compassion. The generalization of the betterment of a half a dozen stereotypes gets applied to all Native People. The Tipi, Wolf, Eagle, Dreamcatcher, Feathers, Medicine Man. It’s been a repetition in our recounted understanding of how to see and identify. Frank Lloyd Wright was influenced and used elements in his architecture projects, his method was to take from many tribes of native people and create a generalization of elements.
When you boil rich culture of any group of people in the past or current down to a few bullet points that can easily identify – you rob them of their humanity. They become a marginalized people – and the ability to full compassionately identify with them is removed from the equation.
„Chokma, Chinchoma?“ is to show through drawings, paintings, and sculptures the diversity, details, richness of a very small portion of Native Peoples collected from my personal travels throughout 2017. Within the tiny details to illustrate how much care goes into every facet of life. Through Contemporary Art as a medium of communication, storytelling and the long-standing tradition of Native People as creative architects. To tell the story, the narrative becoming more specific with each artwork. Making Heritage Preservation of Humanity and Art one in the same. Creating artwork with a comparable integrity of specifics to the rich cultures of Native People expelling the former of stereotypes.
Addison Karl Oshta Painting
Addison Karl Julie Underwood sculpture
Addison Karl – about the artist
My artistic pilgrimage has evolved over a decade of process related to prepress print & color theory. A cyclical evolution from blank slate to paper, canvas to installation & integration into public space. With my work, I attempt to expand the viewer’s understanding of the context, structures & surfaces they inhabit adding life with my work & aiming towards a meticulous harmony & balance between that & the preexisting environment.
My process explores two main domains combining humanitarian figurative & aesthetic subject matter. Projects in Israel, Russia, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Mexico, Malaysia, Japan, the United States and Europe, have allowed me to explore the social construct of individual versus community. These ideas raise issues I feel are primordial to discuss in the public arena. Furthermore, through my artistic practice, I hope to reintroduce into shared visual space a sense of ownership. The fracture of my paintings echoes this as each tiny line communicates the innate relationship between an individual and the larger composition of the community.
My focus on an aesthetic subject matter has been developed through my specialized experience in prepress print techniques. My years in printmaking helped develop a strong relationship within the process of technical color utilization and the mechanics of reproduction through analog printing. Taking the fundamentals of drawing and choosing „hatch-lines“ as the catalyst to build up value range and color families as the primary focus. Pulling together the concept of „trapping“ layers of color beneath to aid in the depth of my work. And using the physical movements of printing to painting large bodies of color meanwhile building up natural texture and form.
The finely controlled hatch-lines create simultaneously diminutive constructions that, when viewed together, unfold and evolve dependent on the physical position of the viewer. Color groups & concepts are explored using theories of parallelism, the bezold effect, impressionist and chaos philosophies developed by numerous artists and philosophers throughout history.
See the exhibition:
Addison Karl „Chokma, Chinchoma?“
Factory Berlin, Rheinsberger Str. 76/77, 10115 Berlin, Monday to Friday, 09.30h to 18.00h
Addison Karl Chaffa painting
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