Octopus Meditations: Explosive Life 2018 43x32 HS - Huge

Year2018

Hand SignedOn Verso 

Condition Excellent 

Framed with GlassFloating Frame 

Purchased fromArtist 2018 

Provenance / HistoryThis painting is one of the last available "Octopus Meditations"series, twelve of which are now permanently displayed in The Rockwell Integrated Science Center at Lafayette College. Ed Kerns has sustained a remarkably fruitful collaborative practice with neuroscientists, engineers and biologists that has been visually compelling and conceptually innovative. His work, including this painting deftly weaves modern aesthetics acquired from his long career and interconnections with fascinating cutting-edge concepts from the sciences. Long before the art and science connection became fashionable, his work was moving towards the concept of consilience or, a unity of knowledge. Kerns has connected and nurtured a significant community of interconnected artists , scientists, and writers who are revealing a new kind of art for the mid-twenty-first century. Ed Kerns studied with Grace Hartigan and through her met and was mentored by many of the first generation of American painters, the abstract expressionists of the New York School who helped America leap forward to producing the preeminent work of the mid 20th century. This work continues that tradition by using an inventive melding of science and art. 

Story / Additional InfoED KERNS is an American painter. He studied with Grace Hartigan, the highly regarded American Abstract Expressionist. Through his friendship with Hartigan, Kerns came to know and work with many artists of the New York School including Willem deKooning, Sam Francis, James Brooks, Philip Guston, Clyfford Still and Ernie Briggs. Kerns’ career in New York had a meteoric trajectory. In 1972, his first exhibition at the Sachs Gallery on 57th Street in Manhattan garnered high critical praise. The New York times, The Village Voice, Arts Magazine, Artforum and Art News were among the numerous publications to offer accolades for his work.
Kerns lived and exhibited in Manhattan for twelve years before taking a position at Lafayette College to Chair and build the modern era Art Department. He became the youngest person to hold an endowed Chair at the college. Kerns has continued his long association with the New York Art World. 

Certificate of AuthenticityArt Brokerage 

Additional InformationBE SURPRISED - SUPER SUPER 

LID157888

Ed Kerns - United States

Art Brokerage: Ed Kerns American Abstract Expressionist Artist: b. 1945. Ed Kerns (February 22, 1945) is an American abstract artist and educator. Kerns studied with the noted Abstract-Expressionist painter, Grace Hartigan and through the elder artist came to know and work with many artists of that generation including, Phillip Guston, Willem de Kooning, James Brooks, Ernest Briggs, Richard Diebenkorn and Sam Francis. Born in 1945 in Richmond, Virginia, Kerns started painting at a young age. He attended the Richmond Professional Institute, receiving his BFA in 1967. He went on to the Maryland Institute, where he studied with painter Grace Hartigan. Here, Kerns received the Hoffberger Fellowship and graduated with an MFA in 1969. Kerns first gained exposure in 1972, when he was commissioned by art collector Larry Aldrich to paint 100 paintings over the course of the year as gifts.That same year, Kerns had his first solo art show at the AM Sachs Gallery in New York. Over the course of the 1970s and 80s, Kerns formed a close partnership with the Rosa Esman Gallery and exhibited ten solo shows there. Of his work in the late 1970s and early 80s, gallery coordinator Judith Stein says, "He works slowly, creating no more than ten large paintings a year. His media are acrylic, sand, and thread, the last used to stitch together sections of canvas. Often plywood or upsom board is used as support." Listings wanted.