If you have ever had the sensation of being temporarily aware of another version of yourself, one drifting in another time and on a different path, you will quickly relate to Marina Kappos’s reverberating painted figures. Sensations of déjà vu such as these create quick moments of complete disorientation and transcendence that are both auditory and visual. They tap into an awareness of a past that we may not have actually experienced but that still feels relevant to our current reality and existence.
Marina Kappos visualizes sound waves and energy fields in her newest series of paintings, and she nods toward the existence of other dimensions and realities surrounding us. To heighten the buzzing frequency of these paintings, Kappos creates repeating, and often mirror-image, sequences of offset abstracted figurative elements. The visual hum of these works is amplified by a painted texture that is reminiscent of tv-static and which results from multiple applications of diluted acrylic paint. Kappos’ figures are transparent yet complete, and they are caught between two worlds– alone and isolated, but also engaged and finding company within themselves and each other.
For her debut exhibition with the gallery, You You You, Kappos presents a large-scale grid installation of “vibrating” paintings, all measuring 36 x 36 inches. The presentation mimics the pulsing rhythms and energy of individual paintings, and the effect is reminiscent of large speakers at a concert or stadium. Kappos has created a visual wall of sound that amplifies the presence of individual works while linking the group of paintings together. Her subjects are abstracted reflections of us all, and they engage with each other and also the audience directly. The works are optically active, tricking the eye with repeating hazy forms, and dance within their confined spaces like echoes.
Marina Kappos (b. 1972) received an MFA from Yale University, School of Art in 1997 (New Haven, CT) and a BFA from the California Institute of Art in 1995 (Valencia, CA). She has exhibited extensively including solo shows at China Art Objects, I-20 gallery and Tokyo Wonder Site, Institute of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan.
