Year2023

Hand SignedUpper Right on Verso 

Condition Excellent 

Not FramedGallery Wrapped Does Not Need Framing 

Purchased fromArtist 2023 

Provenance / HistoryA review and update of a controversial 20-year-old theory of consciousness claims that consciousness derives from deeper level, finer scale activities inside brain neurons. The recent discovery of quantum vibrations in "microtubules" inside brain neurons corroborates this theory, according to review authors. They suggest that EEG rhythms (brain waves) also derive from deeper level microtubule vibrations, and that from a practical standpoint, treating brain microtubule vibrations could benefit a host of mental, neurological, and cognitive conditions. This is the work of Stuart Hameroff and Roger Penrose who have studied microtubules inside brain neurons. The imagery in this painting is the product of meditation of this process. It is a continuance of earlier consciousness studies i.e, the Octopus Meditations and the physical structure of thought. The connection between painting processes and neuronal vibration is very similar to the early tenets of abstract expressionism which permeates the artist's career 

Story / Additional InfoProcess becomes the soil from which an aesthetic takes root. Leonardo da Vinci said that art is never finished, only abandoned, and such is the case here; we sense Kerns' paintings could carry on infinitely, and indeed perhaps our very observation is part of what we might call their interbeing. Their undeniable physical presence charges the room with a tangible invitation to inter-exist with them, which is to say, interact. If we imagine the presence of an acoustic guitar in an otherwise empty room, an implicit sense of participation arises, saturating the air with sonic possibilities. The guitar’s shape and scale also communicate as reciprocal parts, for the guitar is an analog counterpoint of the human body. Kerns’ paintings operate in a similar way - their palpable physical presence beckons the viewer to participate with their veiled surfaces, which balance absence and presence, subtraction, and addition, and call forth traces of layered body actions silently mimicked in the viewer. 

Certificate of AuthenticityArt Brokerage 

LID159850