Singing to the Difference: An Examination of Surface Strategies 2024
Leah Korican
Bio:
Leah Korican is a visual artist and writer. She grew up in Cave Junction, Oregon and lives in Oakland, CA. Leah has a BA from UC Berkeley and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her work has been exhibited nationally including the Richmond Art Center, the Bedford Gallery, and the Triton Museum. Her public art commissions include a large-scale site-specific cut-out for the Nashville International Airport and permanent artworks for Kehilla Community Synagogue and Rumsey Engineers in Oakland, California. Her writing has been published in literary magazines including most recently in Heartwood Literary Magazine.
Artist Statement:
My work is made with cut-outs and acrylic on a variety of sturdy and lightweight surfaces including Tyvek paper. I am interested in imagery that is complex and that contains repeating variations. The subject matter I have explored has included braids, doilies, eddies, and murmurations, among other repeated forms that interact with intricately cut-out backgrounds. The cutouts interact also with architectural elements and the environment in which they are placed to create optical effects through cast shadows and reflected colors.
Pink Murmuration 2
acrylic, cutouts, tyvek
44” x 184”
$4000
Work Statement
This piece explores murmurations; the flow of shapes found in flocks of birds, schools of fish, blowing leaves, and thoughts. Painting on the reverse side, creates vivid reflected color, a metaphoric representation of how memory and the subconscious color our present.
White Bloom
acrylic, cutouts, tyvek
53” diameter x 4”
$ 2500
Work Statement
Created during the pandemic, this piece memorializes absence, not only those who were lost during that time but the loss of the presence of other people as we quarantined. The doily form is delicate and decorative while the act of punching holes is an almost violent rupture of the surface.
Use Synesthesia
acrylic, type, paper
11” x 8”
$300
Work Statement
Part of a series of creative advice I received from writers. This piece reflects on the role of the senses when creating.
Curious
acrylic, cutouts, type, paper
11” x 8”
$300
Work Statement
Sometimes it’s a fine line between the two.
Overlapping
acrylic and cutouts on DuraLar polyester film
14" x17' x 1.5"
$700
Work Statement
Overlapping and Round and Round (below) are from the DOILoveYou series that celebrates women’s handiwork by turning doilies and lace into fine art. The metallic surface contradicts the pliability of fiber, creating a pleasing disorientation for the viewer.
Round and Round
acrylic and cutouts on DuraLar polyester film
14" x17' x 1.5"
$700
Exhibition Season:
An Examination of Surface Strategies