Hollow/Shallow

Hollow/Shallow is a collaborative exhibition of two established well-respected artists that share a fascination with and use of pneumatic devices to animate and inflate inanimate, household and constructed objects.

Joseph Kohnke
“I am interested in conversions, the expressive shift that can occur when an inanimate object is given the characteristics of life. Potato chip bags that can breath, wigs that are baptized, a measuring tape that can actively chirp like a hundred birds, or a single operatic note emanating from a combination of water, crystal and rubber. I try to get the properties of everyday objects to ascend to the role of being a vehicle fro a type of spiritual communication. I want to create conditions where these objects can voice issues of afterlife.”

Karen Kazmer
“My work seeks to examine spaces and objects that we exist with on a daily basis. Pneumatic mechanisms have been incorporated into mixed media works and installations that simulate various modes of respiration. The movement of air acts as a fragile connector between the elements, questioning the experience of movement or positioning in social spaces, our relationships with objects and the liminal effects of these actions. While some works as a whole appear relatively calm and benign, upon closer inspection, the details of the work can allude to medical issues, the fragile nature of human skin, anxiety and poetic memory. The endless cycles of mechanized respiration becomes subtly threatening: never stopping, never giving up.”