ARTIST’S STATEMENT

“When Eli Siegel showed that what makes a work of art beautiful—the oneness of opposites—is the same as what every individual wants, it was one of the mightiest and kindest achievements of man’s mind. He is the most important philosopher of the 20th century—perhaps of all time—because his description of the world, art, and the self has more dimension and exactness to it than any preceding one. Never have I seen a philosopher so test the validity of his concepts in the actuality of people and things.

“By 1940, the year I was introduced to Aesthetic Realism, I was already a serious art student. In Aesthetic Realism classes I learned that art is a making one of opposites; that the formal structure of art and one’s most intimate feelings are related in a way I had never thought possible. I learned truth and imagination were closer than I had known. My work changed. I became more imaginative, freer in concept.

“Working at Atelier17 and the Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in the 1950s, I found my medium. The way etching is both critical and kind, I came to love. It has a digging, critical, biting quality. Yet it can also make for effects of the gentlest lights and shadow. Etching is at once gentle and sharp—and I wanted to put these opposites together in myself.” —CK