Ethan Cohen Gallery at the KuBe Art Center is pleased to announce Dolly’s Bad Dream, a selection of works on paper by Sherry Kerlin.
Caught in the eternal moment of emerging, Kerlin’s subjects occupy a permanent condition of almost-being. Presented through a fine, diaphanous fog, a precise degree of imprecision, they remain evanescent, always in a state of becoming. Equally, they may be waning: having arrived at full clarity, they may be slipping away. We may be looking at afterimages. Whether embryonic or already fading, these figures evoke the caprices of time and the transience of life.
Kerlin’s imagery begins with familiar, often sentimental photographs of infants, pets, mothers, and families. Through airbrushing and other interventions, these seemingly conventional images undergo a radical transfiguration. An elusive quality envelops her subjects, prompting the viewer to strain to grasp the image, hold it still, or bring it fully into focus. Kerlin invites the viewer to participate in the process of realization, drawing on their own imagination to complete what remains unresolved.