20/20 Vision

The Art of Contemporary University Printmaking

Kim William Fink

I am interested in the exploration of comparative culture and what is termed “cultural” or “group memory”, implicit as well as explicit – all of which define qualities that form us as individuals, as a group and ultimately as a nation. This includes subjects such as projected American popular cultural images as well as American self-image – low and high brow. Born and raised in the American West, I am in love with it’s truly postmodern expressions of popular culture – to quote the poet Richard Hugo’s observations of the West’s “ancient newness”….”out West…..the only thing is neon”.

Conceptually, I develop a visual diary or personal “travelogue” specifically reflecting our times in the early 21st century. Images are drawn largely from contemporary mass media and contrasted by hand-executed application rather than mechanical or “cool” drawing. It is an attempt to create a fusion of cultural realities that explore objective verses subjective visions and develop a synthesis between image and meaning. My love/hate relationship with high/low art practices and imagery is evident in my work, incorporating hand-printing processes, computer-assisted images mixed with collage and drawing. I develop my work by combining images that are gathered over time an appropriated from various sources such as the newspaper, magazines, the Internet and found objects. Altered to fit my needs and transferred by various means to paper, layering and layering images to achieve a Baroque-like over richness of images, color and texture, I attempt to keep application techniques simple and basic, as the building-up process tends to be quick. I appreciate this improvised intuitive manipulation that is a Jazz and Baroque-inspired “variation on the theme” approach to art making. In many ways, it satisfies my extended training in easel painting. I make the best use of process and media to inform and express my ideas and by the use of metaphor, I suggest multiple interpretations  – encoded patterns of identity and place. The arrangements attempt to create a resonance between color and objects and the space they occupy, creating a visual poetry.