Kim Curtis "Perception" at Kasia Kay

With a history that ranges from the Hudson River School to Claude Monet, contributing to landscape painting can seem a bit like reinventing the wheel. Kim Curtis’ Perception, her fourth show at Kasia Kay, combines elements from her forerunners with more contemporary art practices to make the genre feel fresh again. The body of work on display is oil paint on panels, and consists primarily of vistas in exaggerated horizontal formats, all 3.5 inches tall and trimmed in red. Works vary in size from the largest Long View II at 113 inches long and consisting of seven panels, to a 20 inch single panel A Somewhat Shorter View. Her work uses a palette reminiscent of Turner, with dull or dark colors punctuated by moments of vibrant color that seem to radiate off the surface. The application of paint is intuitive and blithe. The loose brushwork recalls the Impressionist movement and its desire to capture moments as time unfolds. While Curtis refines the surface of her paintings, a record of previous incarnations is visible beneath, adding to a sense of uncertainty and unfulfilled recollection. Curtis is able to recombine elements of traditional landscape in a way that is specific to her work, and makes the genre feel like after all these years landscape still has something more to give.
Curtis’ work straddles the line between representation and abstraction. While the titles of her paintings and their format point to landscape, their ambiguous forms and handling of paint leave the images open to interpretation. The result is a seemingly vague memory or scene glimpsed in passing, in which the general information is there but the details are unclear. Curtis provides enough visual cues and information for the viewer to reconstruct the scene, but withholds enough so that each person will come to their own conclusion. The work addresses a hurried culture, where details and moments pass by the wayside. By constructing someone else’s experience, the viewer becomes aware of the elusiveness of his or her own memories.