Michael Kareken
NightReflectionsIII.jpg

Recent Work

This series of watercolor monotypes was produced in collaboration with the Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis. The work focuses on the landscape where I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.  The monotypes were made by painting with watercolor on a thin polyester plate which was then transferred to a sheet of paper on the press.  I used both additive and subtractive processes to make the images, putting down washes and marks that were allowed to dry before being lifted and revised by re-wetting the plate.

Information about the series is available from The Highpoint Center for Printmaking.

 

Recent Work

Night Reflections III, conte on duralar, 24” x 36””

My recent work is inspired by window views at dusk, when the reflections of the lighted interior space begins to obscure and fragment the darker scene outside - walls dissolving into backyards and parked cars merging with furniture. As public and private spaces merge, the ordinary neighborhood street and comfortable domestic space become an unfamiliar and disorienting world. These images are based on observations of specific places, but the completed works are inventions that often combine multiple locations, points of view, and times of day. The elements are woven together in a way that is intended to feel both cohesive and disjointed. I used what I observe in the window reflections as a guide, blurring edges to connect near and far, dissolving forms into shadows, establishing multiple light sources to create shifting focal points within the compositions.