Karen Gersch for the #12 Vassar St Gallery exhibition forSept. 5 through Oct. 19th
DUAL EXHIBITION at Cunneen-Hackett
by Karen E. Gersch
Sept. 5 through Oct. 19th, 2017
“Ruins of War”
Sadly, the connective tissue of war – ANY war = or act of terrorism, genocide,
conscious violence against a culture, a community, an ethnicity; still prevails and still
shatters us on a daily basis. The obliteration of and damage to lives and families, whole
neighborhoods and races, creates pain, destruction and unfathomable loss. The world orbits
in ignited fury.
Global leaders cannot or do not seek intervention, curative actions, pragmatic
solutions. The wounded and slain have no voices and little means of recovery, let alone
restitution. I have no answers. No blueprints for healing or stopping the evil that causes one
society to assault another. I can only offer portraits of wounded lives and the smoldering
aftermath. An insight into what remains when the smoke and ashes of fallen cities, lands
and people, dissipate.
If only, as John Lennon sang, we could “give peace a chance”.
Karen E. Gersch
DUAL EXHIBITION at Cunneen-Hackett
by Karen E. Gersch
Sept. 5 through Oct. 19th, 2017
“Circus Lives”
There are people who liken circus to chaos and pandemonium. One often hears – in
instances of frenetic activity – that a situation is “just like a circus”. It’s really an unfair
reference. Circus is the most precise and orderly world I know.
Having traveled with, performed in and chronicled – through sketches and paint – the
lives and spirits of its denizens for forty years, I can attest that circus artists and their acts
are as finely tuned, disciplined and practiced as any surgical, engineering or military
endeavor. Even better, circus is a universal art form. There are no barriers to appreciating
its beauty and mystique; neither age, language, ethnicity nor religion.
I recall an old episode of the Mod Squad, whose closing line still haunts me: “Men go
to the moon and wonder. Children go to the circus and understand”.
Welcome to my favorite place – the round world – where flight, risk and comedy
pirouette. From the back lot to the center ring, it’s an empire full of visual heroism and
grace. While its artists possess a vitality that seems superhuman, their movements and skills
appear effortless.
In the early 80’s, I toured southern France with a small, one-ring tented show. My
moonlit portraits of that “sleeping circus” depict a life that seems to hover in mist, gentle as
dreams. But the quietude outside the tent always struck me in contrast to the fiery energy
within. Between sequins and sawdust, there always swings a visual impact of color, line and
light. From the communion of acrobats midway in flight to the complex simplicity of
clowns. From the moment before an aerialist descends to the jubilant balance of dancers on
wire.
It is this suspense and magic I strive to capture. To depict not just the craft, but to
invoke the power and passion that makes circus such a vital entity. Any circus, well presented,
will lift its audience out of their seats and into its charged air. I hope that these
artworks will do the same.
Karen E. Gersch
