Artist Kenn Kotara Exhibits Braille Walden Series

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(Free-Press-Release.com) February 23, 2012 -- Contemporary artist Kenn Kotara (www.kotarstudio.com) is exhibiting his Braille Walden Series in the Flanders Gallery Exhibition, “Codework” March 2 through March 31 at Flanders Gallery, 302 South West Street, Raleigh, NC.

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Artist Kenn Kotara Exhibits Braille Walden Series

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Kotara’s art entitled “and if, between the two” is based on Henry David Thoreau’s book, Walden. The Braille works are transcribed from, and correspond to, the eighteen chapters of Walden. Each piece is composed of two rectangular colored blocks of hand-hammered, bas-relief Braille dots, adhered together to form minimalist landscape. Each coupled, colored rectangle reflects Kotara’s visual interpretation of a single chapter.

Kelly Mcchesney, Director of Flanders Gallery says, “I got the idea for Codework after seeing Kenn Kotara's plan for "Walden." His braille installations were so lovely to me, because I know how precious the information is that they contain, yet those words are held back, made inaccessible to me. I am left to admire the work for the aesthetics, but I still know there is so much more there. While I might take for granted my book of Thoreau poems as it is buried deep in my closet, Kotara’s Braille series has it all out there for me to see and admire, yet I cannot read it. There is something very poetic in that.”

Reflecting on his work Kotara says, “The goal of the installation is to achieve a mode of increased challenge for advancing a significant theme in my creative discourse – that when we take time to observe closely, we see that visual art is connected to literature, communication, education, the environment and differing cultures.”

The artist points out, “and if, between the two” while it may tend to alienate a viewer due to its minimalist content, is an experiment in form and space that delivers the natural exterior of the Walden Pond landscape to an urban interior. So while viewers are challenged, the project also provides a place of quiet meditation, allowing for moments of respite in a frenetic world.”

The Braille series is one of several of Kotara’s creative expressions. Fascinated with nature – of form, space, and connections between people and their environments – he explores theories of natural and physical science, and the entire cosmos through his numerous works on canvas, paper, Mylar, and Polaroid photography.
Kotara’s work has been included in over 100 exhibitions internationally and is in public and corporate collections. Most recently his work appears in the second season of the HBO series “Treme” based in New Orleans.

For more information about the artist visit: www.kotarastudio.com

More information can be found online at http://www.kotarastudio.com

Braille art     Flanders Gallery     Kenn Kotara     Treme     walden