Given the queasy state of affairs in this wayward millennium . . . it is naturally tempting to turn to art for the balm and solace of beauty. . . An exclusive diet of escapism, however, does risk lulling us back into the private vapidity and public apathy of our pre-9/11 entertainment culture. It is with a different kind of pleasure, then, that of exercising our powers of reason and indulging our curiosity, that we confront art like Katherine Fishburn’s, art that addresses contemporary issues complexly and thoughtfully.
Fishburn’s paintings, assemblages, and installations challenge the viewer to read, analyze, and ponder. Despite their social or political commentary, they avoid simplistic polemics; by-products of a highly personal exploration of objective and subjective, world and self, nature and culture, their meanings are sometimes ambiguous or elusive. . . .
The rich genetic pool of meanings in these works arises from an equally eclectic list of ingredients, from daunting literary and scientific allusions to humble scavenged junk (a.k.a. found objects): from Arendt and Heidegger, Eliot and Pound, to forks, shoes, skulls, etiquette books, road kill ("small flattened corpses"), sand, hair and chicken bones. |
