| Mike Kasun "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in our soul," Emily Dickinson. Art Bar 722 E. Burleigh Street, Milwaukee, 414-372-7880 Through August 24. |
[continued...]
Documentation is essential to the strange hobby of bird-
watching. All birders keep lists that chronicle what they
see, when and where. In the hands of an artist, the list
becomes visual, which emphasizes the precious
eccentricity of the endeavor -- the satisfaction of
discovery and notation.
The fact that Kasun mostly paints on-site gives each
image a sense of intimacy. These paintings are not
meant to be "fine" art, exactly. They sell for $25 or $50
each. Within the less-tense conceit of a sketchbook,
Kasun experiments, plays, and lets each image be its
own moment. We may not get a totally resolved
composition in each work, but we do get a shared
sense of the love of both seeing and rendering. Kasun’s
Documentation is essential to the strange hobby of bird-
watching. All birders keep lists that chronicle what they
see, when and where. In the hands of an artist, the list
becomes visual, which emphasizes the precious
eccentricity of the endeavor -- the satisfaction of
discovery and notation.
The fact that Kasun mostly paints on-site gives each
image a sense of intimacy. These paintings are not
meant to be "fine" art, exactly. They sell for $25 or $50
each. Within the less-tense conceit of a sketchbook,
Kasun experiments, plays, and lets each image be its
own moment. We may not get a totally resolved
composition in each work, but we do get a shared
sense of the love of both seeing and rendering. Kasun’s
| Birds by Mike Kasun at Art Bar. |
| Copyright Art History Chicks, 2006. Contact Us |
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brave ability to not fear failure in his range of experimentation feels encouraging, as if he’s decentralizing the
need to achieve and reasserting the need to share a certain pleasure. And that pleasure is one of patient sitting
and waiting for a sound or a sighting or visual inspiration while alone in a marsh. What a great metaphor for art-
making in general.
Water-based paints have long been the media of choice for bird painters including the granddaddy of them all,
John James Audubon. It suits the subject well. The flighty, flickering movement of a bird needs a fluid and thin
medium to carry the notion of freedom from gravity. Kasun’s washy grounds and thin, gestural, brush strokes
which designate wing or beak with a simple sweep of the brush, could somehow only be accomplished in his
unique mixture of acrylic, gouache and ink.
Somewhere within these sweet little paintings is a yearning for something meaningful in this world, an
insistence on the act of "noticing" what can so easily be overlooked.
The Art Bar opens at 6 a.m. daily for coffee and Alterra bakery, making Kasun’s work (which is part of a larger
show about Illustration) particularly accessible to anyone at anytime. There may not be another exhibition venue
in the city that keeps more ample hours: 6 a.m. until 2 a.m., seven days a week.
-Debra Brehmer
Debra Brehmer is co-publisher of Susceptible to Images. Email dbrehmer@susceptibletoimages.com
need to achieve and reasserting the need to share a certain pleasure. And that pleasure is one of patient sitting
and waiting for a sound or a sighting or visual inspiration while alone in a marsh. What a great metaphor for art-
making in general.
Water-based paints have long been the media of choice for bird painters including the granddaddy of them all,
John James Audubon. It suits the subject well. The flighty, flickering movement of a bird needs a fluid and thin
medium to carry the notion of freedom from gravity. Kasun’s washy grounds and thin, gestural, brush strokes
which designate wing or beak with a simple sweep of the brush, could somehow only be accomplished in his
unique mixture of acrylic, gouache and ink.
Somewhere within these sweet little paintings is a yearning for something meaningful in this world, an
insistence on the act of "noticing" what can so easily be overlooked.
The Art Bar opens at 6 a.m. daily for coffee and Alterra bakery, making Kasun’s work (which is part of a larger
show about Illustration) particularly accessible to anyone at anytime. There may not be another exhibition venue
in the city that keeps more ample hours: 6 a.m. until 2 a.m., seven days a week.
-Debra Brehmer
Debra Brehmer is co-publisher of Susceptible to Images. Email dbrehmer@susceptibletoimages.com
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