Joan Kahn: A 15-Year Survey

Mathematics, geometry, technology, graphic design, color theory, art, history, philosophy, spirituality, harmony, balance, transcendence... these are just a few words that not only describe, but symbiotically function in unison to define the artwork of Joan Kahn. Upon first approaching her body of work, what comes to mind are the logical art historical connections to Barnett Newman's color field paintings, and the harmoniously balanced abstraction of De Stijl. But it is Kahn's application of pigment to the surface of carefully-selected, lusciously- exposed woodgrain that makes her work distinctive and provocative. The combined use of "the organic" with "the graphic" creates visual illusions that bemuse the eye and raise questions of how the effects of color, texture, and transparency, affect optical dimensionality. The mind transcends what the eye cannot.