Stephen Gang Gallery, Inc.
529 W. 20th St. 4E
New York, NY 10011
Tel. 212-741-7832
Fax. 212-741-7957
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
DON KIMES
"Paint, Steel and Clay"
recent paintings
July 7 - 28, 2002
reception: July 7, 6-8 p.m.
The essence of paintings by Don Kimes comes from the contemplation of space,
time, immortality and civilization. One can feel the intervals spent in
Umbria, Italy and his visits to places such as Pompeii. Several years ago
Kimes' had made a decision to forsake traditional techniques and materials.
Materials involve steel, clay, wood and metal, rather than the conventional
paint and canvas. Statements are found in volcanic ashes, burnished metal
with acid washes, as well as, other less traditional materials of a palette.
In these works, the existential idea of remembering and speed being inversely
correlated comes to mind. One can sense the mortality of civilization and the
loss of our past over time. As the speed of living increases most of what has
passed seems to disappear at a much quicker pace. These expressions freeze a
moment of antiquity for the viewer to meditate, bringing a sense of the
history of civilization into the contemporary, while foregoing direct
references. Don Kimes' has written that, in Italy, ". . . you cannot pick up
a stone that hasn't been touched by other human hands." This present exhibit
travels a road that can never be the same once traveled. Yet, celebrates what
has previously touched it, as what touches a stone before.
"If I take a stick of charcoal and make a deep black mark on a blank white
wall, that mark takes on great significance in the context of what happens on
that wall. If I take the same piece of charcoal and make a second mark, the
impact of the first mark is lessened in the context of the wall. The first
mark doesn't change . . . But the second mark also insists on our attention,
and it changes the first mark because of that."
