Kate Kretz | Common Denominator

Kate Kretz: COMMON DENOMINATOR

COVER IMAGES: Appetites of Oligarchs, 2018, acrylic & oil on canvas, gold leaf. 72 x 50.25”

Kate Kretz: COMMON DENOMINATOR

January 24 - March 24, 2018

Cognitive Dissonance: “Buttons”, 2015, embroidery on velvet, 16 x 12” oval

Conversation with Kate Kretz is almost palpable, and a tacit understanding that
there are certain truths we dare not utter. I rejected
MCR: Kate, you have lived in several regions of the US Catholicism, but held on to the rapturous visuaIs, and
as well as abroad. Please tell me about your background became obsessed at an early age with telling difficult
and how it has formed your worldview. truths, unearthing the things that no one wants to talk
about. This mission has consumed my work from the
KK: Well, my father, a high school French and Latin very beginning: through decades of seemingly disparate
teacher, was a dreamer, who had a difficult life, but subject matter, and dramatic shifts in media.
made a great deal of magic for us. When I was nine, on
his school teacher salary, he somehow managed to take I blame (and thank) my father: each book he handed me,
a family of six to live in France for a year. We were really every film we stayed up past bedtime to watch, and all
poor, and had virtually no Christmas that year, but this those intense dinner discussions. . . focused exclusively
trip changed our lives. My father’s courage and audacity on the concept of an impervious sense of personal
later inspired me to leave for Paris myself when I was 18, integrity, developed through rigorous inquiry. Being a
with a promise of an au pair job, $200 in my pocket, and father/teacher was a vocation for him, but it was not a
no return ticket. I took a class at The Ecole Des Beaux case of pure indoctrination: he often insisted that we
Arts, then earned a Cours De La Civilization Française read opinions that were the polar opposite of our own.
certificate at The Sorbonne while working as a nanny
for a prominent French political family. After years of exposing us to dozens of stalwart literary
and cinematic characters who told the unvarnished truth
Movies helped my Dad survive his challenging despite all costs, who always did the right thing, never
childhood. . . he lived in films, and somehow conveyed taking the easy way out. . . after endless hours of his
to each of us how to live the “big life” of a protagonist on Socratic method, discussing with us every kind of ethical
modest means, in a narrative where anything is possible. conundrum, we set out on our own, quixotic lambs
Long before the days of VCRs and DVDs, he would put eager to conquer the wolf-infested forest. I suppose I
us to bed early, so we could wake at 8 or 9 pm to watch chose this vocation because, after discovering that every
some essential film on TV. job (including the job that supports my art) had its share
of compromise, disappointments, corruption, or sagging
Both the formal and conceptual elements of my standards: art making was the only one that seemed to
work originated from a regimen of Catholicism and offer the possibility of complete autonomy.
Technicolor films. Both employ lurid colors, dramatic
light, and a highly defined code of morality. Most My earliest work centered around night landscapes.
significantly, both contain an air of repression that A lifelong insomniac, I used to climb out of my window

at night, shimmy down sheets tied to the radiator, and process: I was constitutionally incapable of doing it.
wander around, intoxicated by the night air. I then Artmaking is my addiction, and I support it by teaching.
focused on nocturnal humans, because people are
more real at night: you are more likely to hear what is And it’s true that my recent work in particular is
truly in someone’s heart at 3 a.m. than you are at noon. difficult to exhibit, although I have found a few brave
The figures were surrounded by obsessively detailed people, like yourself, who are willing to do it. I sell
environments. I have always been a workaholic, and an things occasionally, but that is not the reason that I make
extremely focused painter: my grad school classmates the work. I do it to stay sane, to comprehend what is
told my professors they were concerned about me, happening in the world. I read some story of cruelty,
because I never seemed to leave the studio, and was so or wild injustice, and it feels like a literal blow to my
driven that I often chose not to sleep. During the endless body. I carry the pain, and sometimes the horrific image,
numbers of all nighters I pulled, there seemed to be a around with me, until I can transform it into something
subliminal correlation between being up at 4 a.m. and beautiful through the creation of an object. The process
the focused intensity of painting each stitch of a tapestry, of making functions as a meditation, a healing prayer,
or each hair on an arm. Like a spider who works through or a potent incantation. I am trying to embed that object
the night, intently weaving an intricate web, I step with as much power as possible, to actually rival the
back to see what I have done, what has been channeled impact of that original negative impetus for making it.
through me, when the sun comes up. I am aiming for a beautiful, exquisitely-crafted gut punch.

MCR: Wow, that is a fascinating story. There is so much I believe that most artists originally found this vocation
to dig into and hopefully we’ll circle back, but one because they were born with extra-sensitive antennae.
thing that really stuck out was the idea of the artist as Recently, I notice that, in various contexts, people have
an autonomous vocation potentially free of compromise begun to reference empaths, introverts, “Highly Sensitive
and corruption. It strikes me that you can create that People”, or HSPs, to describe humans who are more
world inside your studio, but as soon as you’d like to sensitive than most to light, sound, temperature, stories
exhibit or sell the work you must wade back into the they read in the media, other people’s emotions, etc.
muck. What do you perceive to be the role of the artist Research is showing that some people are simply wired
in society? differently, causing these sensitivities. When I started to
ask other artists about their experiences, I found that I
KK: Although I respect (and often envy) those who have was not alone. One friend told me that she often felt
chosen a different path, I decided a long time ago that I “too porous” to be in public; another told me that, even
would teach to earn a living. Every time I have tried to in room full of people, she could “feel” if an individual
make art for money, it became a tortuous, excruciating in the space was angry.

Cognitive Dissonance: “Buttercup”, 2015, embroidery on velvet, 16 x 12” oval

DETAIL: Cognitive Dissonance: “Buttercup”, 2015, embroidery on velvet, 16 x 12” oval

Beyond personal interactions, I believe that many human being confronts a form that wants to become
artists pick up on things that are happening in the a work through him. Not a figment of his soul, but
world around us, and start to draw connections, long something that appears to the soul and demands the
before the “waking sleepwalkers” do. I espouse Wassily soul’s creative power. What is required is a deed that a
Kandinsky’s pyramid theory, which states that the very man does with his whole being: if he commits it. . .
best artists are visionaries, paving the way for the rest then the creative power is released and the work comes
of society. In fact, his theory was never more true than into being. . .” “And”, he adds: “the work is imperious:
it is today, as noise from the information age drowns if I do not serve it properly, it breaks, or it breaks me.
out the quiet we as a culture so desperately need to The form that confronts me I cannot experience nor
access our intuition and see the bigger picture. Artists describe; I can only actualize it. And yet I see it, radiant
allow themselves the time and space to access layered, in the splendor of the confrontation, far more clearly
complicated thought processes. As Kurt Vonnegut than all clarity of the experienced world.”
said, “Artists are useful to society because they are so
sensitive. They are super-sensitive. They keel over like Artists are one of the final holdouts, one of the last
canaries in poison coal mines long before more robust influences upon our culture that is not owned and run
types realize that there is any danger whatsoever.” by a board of directors. Our news, our politicians, the
sources of our daily images, even our education system,
Unbeknownst to artists and the general public, are all controlled by corporations. The pleasant humans
a major portion of our economy is driven by the we encounter as we move through our day have almost
(unpaid) groundbreaking ideas of artists. The most all been given corporate-lawyer-designed scripts to
elite multinational corporations in the world pay follow, in order to collect their paychecks.
trendspotting firms like WSGN great sums of money
each year to determine what The Next Big Thing will be, So, it makes me a bit sick to my stomach when freshman
and those trendspotters consistently look to artists for art students talk about “branding”. . . because if artists
those answers, visiting exhibitions to focus on concepts give up and embrace the corporate paradigm, that’s it. . .
artists are concerned with, as well as gleaning creative you know, there’s no one left. . . there’s just us, the poets,
technical and material innovations. and the rare journalist. There have to be voices in our
society that have no agenda beyond telling the truth.
Finally, although I spend tremendous amounts of time If we, as artists, throw away our power, being seduced
researching and following threads, ultimately, the into adopting the same mentality as those around us, so
Universe tells me what to make: I have very little choice we can “just make our shit and get our piece of the pie”,
in the matter. As Martin Buber wrote in his 1923 book, then there is no hope.
I and Thou: “This is the eternal origin of art - that a

MCR: You have identified quite a chasm between what I do something other than “Art”, because it really
different approaches to both education and art-making has nothing to do with these stories. The alternative
by juxtaposing Martin Buber’s I and Thou with the Art World that I travel in is a supportive community
corporatization of higher education. The latter is on quite that is concerned with the quality of the work, and it
a winning streak, it seems. In both the worlds of art and is understood that the value of what we make exists
education, the business/capitalist approach is squeezing outside of The (mainstream) Art World’s revenue-based
out the philosophical/holistic approach. What can those definitions of “greatness”. One of my friends recently
who disapprove of this trend do to resist it? posted on Facebook, “Someone just called me ‘an artist’s
artist’. . . what does that mean?” I responded, “It means
KK: Personally, I am close to giving up on higher that you are respected by “people who know”, and it is
education. There are very few institutions that have held universally understood that you do really good work,
out and not allowed themselves to be swallowed by the but you won’t make any money from it.”
corporate model, which, I firmly believe, inevitably kills
everything that it touches. We are living in dangerous, As artists, we are called upon to resist consumerism and
precarious times. Capitalism, being unsustainable, will anesthetization of our sensibilities through pop culture,
never provide the hope that people need. In fact, seeing and point the way out for others. It requires a great deal
the effects of late-stage capitalism, as they are currently of fortitude. Chris Hedges addressed your resistance
playing out, has me fearful for the fate of humanity, not question in a way that resonates with me:
to mention my daughter, on a daily basis.
“There will be rebels. They will live in the shadows.
Being a conduit for art and the truth, however, is a deep, They will be the renegade painters, sculptors, poets,
magical way to live. For me, choosing between life writers, journalists, musicians, actors, dancers,
as a spiritual, emotional, and/or intellectual quest vs. organizers, activists, mystics, intellectuals and other
winning the art rat race is a no-brainer. Not just artists, outcasts who are willing to accept personal sacrifice.
but all people, must decide: will we understand that They will not surrender their integrity, creativity,
we are each connected to each other and the earth? independence and finally their souls. They will speak
Will we acknowledge and adapt to the vast beautiful and the truth. The state will have little tolerance of them.
horrific implications of that insight, or will we embrace They will be poor. The wider society will be conditioned
a “Greed is Good” / “every man for himself” philosophy? by mass propaganda to write them off as parasites or
traitors. They will keep alive what is left of dignity and
If you read about Art in the media, you will find freedom. Perhaps one day they will rise up and triumph.
information about auction prices, and how many But one does not live in poverty and on the margins of
assistants Jeff Koons has. I sometimes want to call society because of the certainty of success. One lives like

DETAIL: One Day in America, 2018, cotton embroidery floss, found cross stitch, velvet, 96 beads (one for each person killed by a gun), 28 x 16”

Portrait of A Mass Shooter, 2017, photo print of 20 superimposed mass shooter portraits on aluminum, 20 x 16”

that because to collaborate with radical evil is to betray on committees and other tasks that they are not paid
all that is good and beautiful. It is to become a captive. for, exploiting their hope for that elusive full-time
It is to give up the moral autonomy that makes us human. position. Soon, all the people who knew the traditional
The rebels will be our hope.” differences between the responsibilities of an adjunct
and a full time faculty member will die, or retire, and
MCR: I am interested in your frustration with higher young academics will be exploited further. In addition to
education. Even as corporate speech and practices the universal practice of replacing retiring faculty with
invade academia, isn’t it still a place where transformation adjuncts, there are some universities trying to shut down
is possible? Did you read the Washington Post profile departments that are not generating revenue. How can
of former white supremacist Derek Black and how the an organization that is supposedly helping young people
diversity of campus life changed him? It’s a fascinating to become good citizens pay their instructors less than a
story and a great example of why education is such a working wage? How are they conveying that knowledge
threat to fascism. Since this exhibition is taking place at a is an important value? Once universities stop thinking of
college, you are in a great position to critique higher ed. themselves as a public good, as a necessity required to
What do you think we are still doing right and what needs maintain a healthy, prosperous society, it’s over. Other
to change? revenue-generating things that have nothing to do with
education, like sports, are prioritized. Like any other
KK: I have been a tenured professor at a Research One money-making venture, the administration rakes in big
University, and I have recently been working as an bucks, the workers are exploited, and the quality of the
adjunct. When I left my associate professor position, “product” decreases.
almost 12 years ago, I saw the writing on the wall.
They were beginning to ask all the departments who How can this NOT be understood as a benchmark of
were not bringing grants into the university to begin our civilization’s decline? I think that examples like
their own fundraising efforts to sustain themselves. Derek Black are few and far between. In general, The
They were starting to penalize students who were Christian Right does not value education, they simply
taking “extra classes”, above what was required for want to brainwash. They are homeschooling their
graduation! (I spent a whole extra year as an undergrad, kids: these children are growing up in an insulated
and, if I won the lottery, would be in school for the rest environment where they are not encouraged to question
of my life.) Like many universities, full-time professors authority or research other points of view, and they
were being asked to teach more courses (less time for are, consequently, not allowed to make up their own
the development of dangerous, independent thought minds. In addition, (as Mike Judge brilliantly points out
and projects). As part-time instructors are becoming in the film Idiocracy) they are reproducing a lot faster
more desperate, they are being asked to participate

than we are. They are building an army. And we are to remain true to their values, or moral autonomy as
sitting around hoping that kindness, rationality, and he says. Who are some artist rebels whose work you
justice will prevail. love for its incorruptible moral autonomy and/or
change-making potential?
But here’s what we can do right: years ago, I taught
drawing in an inner-city Atlanta program for teenagers, KK: The first artwork that made me weep was Käthe
called Timeless Seeds. In the first few classes, they Kollwitz’s Mother With Dead Child. I still feel that
did all right, but it was a struggle to keep the students her work has a potency that is unrivaled, and that,
focused and on-task. It was the most difficult teaching furthermore, much of the art’s power comes from the
assignment I’d ever had: I was racking my brain, trying emotional vulnerability she experienced in her role as
to figure out how to break through. During the third a mother. I loved that the bourgeoisie bored her, and
class, I showed them my work, and I told them the that, instead, she was drawn to depicting the proletariat,
background on each piece… the paintings were all those whose lives were deep and difficult. At our current
about my dysfunctional childhood, and the vulnerability moment in history, I have returned to looking at her
that I felt facing the world. For the very first time since I work quite regularly again. I am also looking at Goya,
met them, they were deadly silent. They asked all kinds Golub, and Ida Applebroog these days.
of questions. It changed everything. For the remainder
of the classes, every single one of them made personal I love and admire Sue Coe’s work, she feels things so
work about their fears and their dreams. Up until that profoundly, and conveys that in every piece that she
moment, they thought of Art as something foreign, does… I can feel my heart ache along with her when I
outside themselves: they didn’t know that it could be see her work. She is screaming at the universe, asking
used in this way, that it can save your life. them why they can’t open their eyes and see what she
sees.  She spoke at University of Georgia, almost 20 years
So much in our world conspires to disempower people, ago, and I remember being shocked when she said that
to make them feel insignificant. Young people need to she only made $35,000 a year…and lived in NYC! Now,
learn that they have a voice, and that voice is important. of course, I understand exactly how that happens. You
It seems to me that our primary job as educators in this make the work you need to make. If you tell truths that
moment must be to empower our students, so they do people do not want to hear, that rich people do not want
not feel helpless. Dave Hickey once said, “Beauty is a to hang on their walls, you are out of luck. You get the
weapon, you just have to aim it.” occasional grant and/or sale to some brave person, and
you find another way to make money.
MCR: The Chris Hedges quote rests its hope on the
shoulders of artists willing to sacrifice comfort in order

Gunlicker, 2015, acrylic & oil on gatorboard, 20 x 16”

Gunlicker II, 2015, acrylic & oil on gatorboard, 16 x 20”

I am drawn to artists, like Coe, who are obviously I have also been a fan of Lynn Foulkes for decades:
walking through the world in a heightened state of I relate to his work in so many ways: how he can spend
extreme empathy. Even the work of my first painting years on a piece, how he is always experimenting with
hero, Ivan Albright, had this quality. It is a difficult way materials and pushing boundaries, even when it cost him
to live. It has the potential to destroy you. I think this points in his career, how there may be some occasional
genre of work stands out to me because, in the U.S., irony in his work, yet he is still dead serious about it. I am
we are heading in the opposite direction as a culture. drawn to transgressive artists who tell difficult truths, and
I sincerely believe that Americans are devolving: also maintain a certain amount of reverence and integrity.
We live in a bully culture where greed is good, every Being earnest in one’s work has the potential to evoke
aspect of our lives is a competition judged in very eyerolls, if not outright mockery, in our current climate
superficial ways, and the selfishness, the vulgarity, the of cynicism, but, in my mind, being ironic or tongue-in-
lack of empathy is astounding. It is a culture that brought cheek denotes a lack of commitment to one’s convictions.
us our current president. It is as if one makes statements, yet tags, “just kidding,” to
the end of every sentence, so one never risks being wrong
Kara Walker’s Sugar Baby is an incredible piece, and I or ridiculed. We have also developed a cynicism about
especially love that she videotaped the responses of the transgression in art. Because we now have celebrities
audience acting / interacting inappropriately with her who sell their souls and do anything to constantly stay in
work. She gave us this monumental, sincere gift, yet part the news cycle, we have come to question the motivation
of her knew how it would be received, and she made behind artists who do transgressive work. But very few
that a part of the piece. . . nothing short of brilliant.   people understand what is required to step into that space
in a serious way. I addressed this in a lengthy blog post
I remember being struck in art history class when I first years ago: “What People Don’t Get About ‘Shocking Art’ ”.
heard about Hans Haacke’s Shapolsky at al. Real Estate The creation of this recent series, and people’s response
Holdings, A Real Time Social System, as of May 1, 1971. to it, makes me want to turn that post into a book,
I still wrestle with the powerful impact of truth-telling because there is so much more to say. I always have in
in a piece like that, juxtaposed with my desire to make mind Susan Sontag’s quote: “The poetry of transgression
work function aesthetically, as a seduction, to draw more is also knowledge. He who transgresses not only breaks
people into the work. I am jealous of Violet Overn’s a rule. He goes somewhere that others are not, and he
recent Fraternity House series. I respect what Vik Muniz knows something that others don’t know.”
has done with his work, and how it functions to help the
vulnerable on many different levels. I appreciate Lynda However, I don’t know about the “change making
Benglis’ work, but especially love her groundbreaking potential” part of your question. Art can raise awareness,
ArtForum ad.

and stimulate discussion, pushing ideas further punched in the gut. . . but in a GOOD way.” It has forced
along, but it rarely single-handedly changes anything. me to think a great deal about how art is supposed to
The internet has helped to make images of art a part of function, and if there are any limits. I asked a lot of
the conversation in a way that was not possible before, people, “Can art be too much? Can it have too much
even as it reduces/simplifies the actual work. impact on the viewer?” I keep coming back to Goya’s
Atrocities of War. He was bearing witness, and the
MCR: I understand what you’re saying about the reality was ugly and difficult to process. I see my work
challenge of making change and often wonder what as functioning in a similar way: I am bearing witness to
the threshold is for achieving that and whether it’s a growing cruelty, lack of empathy, and objectification
even possible. I have to believe it is because creating of various “Others” that is growing in our culture. It is
awareness and discussion doesn’t satisfy me. The way significant that the most recent work uses images from
I see it, awareness is gaining the knowledge that your actual events as documentation. I am reframing the
lifestyle is ruining the planet, but change is actually atrocities of our time, pointing out parallels, because our
modifying it in the face of that knowledge. I think we daily lives are so noisy and few people have time to step
have plenty of awareness, but not nearly enough change. back and make these connections. I think I make the
But maybe that’s not art’s role? That we bear witness, images so powerful because I am trying to fight back,
rather than fix? to throw a gut punch, aimed back at society.

KK: I think that art has the power to give a significant MCR: Is that what motivated you to make the Gunlickers
nudge in the right direction towards change. One of the series? Was it a satisfying punch in the NRA’s face, a
reasons I work with representational imagery is that it desire to humiliate those who value their guns more
is more accessible, and has the power to reach more than others’ lives, or something else?
people, functioning on different levels.  And, I honestly
believe that I can affect more people with the creation of KK: I often make work as a way to try to understand or
a powerful work of art than I can by marching, making process what is happening in the world around me.
phone calls, or sharing on Facebook (although I still do I do a lot of research. . . in addition to educating
all of these). myself, it adds layers to the work. For the Gunlickers
series, I was trying to understand the fetishization of
While creating this series of work, because the imagery guns, particularly the “need” for an automatic weapon,
is so disturbing to people, I thought long and hard about a machine designed to kill the maximum number of
subjecting people to it. I have been worried that people people in a shortest period of time. I was reading about
would feel assaulted. About ten people who made open carry advocates, those who want to carry their
studio visits have said to me, “I feel like I have just been people-killing machines around with them everywhere.

Gunlicker III: Militia, 2016, acrylic & oil on gatorboard, 19 x 17”

Gunlicker IV, 2016, acrylic & oil on gatorboard, 20 x 16”

(There are lots of gun owners who don’t love their I become a bit impatient when someone simply adds
guns this way, and they aren’t offended by the paintings: an image of a gun into their work, and then says that
they said that they know the paintings are not about “it’s about gun violence.” I want to make a greater
them.) I don’t understand humans who love their guns commitment in my work to confronting and calling
so much that they do not support sane gun laws, and out bullies. Open carry advocates get off on their ability
consequently, do not care about the collateral damage to intimidate: if they say that they are not excited by
of human lives. the latent potential inherent in strapping on a semi-
automatic people-killing machine to walk down the
To be clear, I actually enjoy shooting guns at targets, street, they have no self-awareness, or they are lying.
and I‘m pretty good at it. At a certain point in my life,
I systematically worked my way through a checklist MCR: In this exhibition you demonstrate mastery of
of getting past many things I was afraid of, and guns several very different mediums. It’s the opposite of the
were on the list. In my research, I actually read things “when all you have is a hammer everything looks like
that shifted my position on hunting for food, but I also a nail” saying. You have so many tools to choose from,
found a lot of interesting first hand accounts of killing how do you decide which is appropriate for the task
your first animal as a rite of passage into manhood, a at hand? What is your artistic process like?
ritual that obviously left psychological scars on men who
eventually “woke up”. I also learned that when you shoot KK: I like the challenge of coming up with a medium
a gun, your body releases the same chemical as it does that adds potency to the work, and I get to learn a new
when you kiss someone. skill in the process. In One For The Team, for example,
a piece about the confluence of sports culture and rape
It made perfect sense to me to paint men making culture, I chose pyrography (wood burning) on wood
love to their guns, and I knew that my painting style slices because the medium is normally a male hobby,
of obsessive detail and lurid colors would lend itself and the pieces look like the objects that hang on the
well to depicting them the way that I wanted. Then it walls of rural bars and man caves.
became fun to make the paintings as sexy as possible,
while also employing abject cues, such as nose hair, Mastering new mediums just gives one a bigger
dirty fingernails, etc. as an attempt to “Other” them. vocabulary. I have always said that if I won the lottery,
Traditionally, the casting of minorities, women, the poor, I would go back to art school and to trade school,
and even animals as Other has always been the step in essentially learning how to make different things for the
rationalizing violence against them, so a lot of the work rest of my life. I like the danger of working with new
in this exhibition inverts this paradigm, turning the materials. When I was younger, I was a thrill-seeker:
tables to present aggressors as foreign, strange, “Other”. I piloted and jumped out of small planes, and collected

all kinds of in-air experiences. Now, in the studio, I feel corporate sociopathy, and our treatment of animals.
that I am addicted to the exhilarating free fall of making Once or twice I had to take a break from the research
work and not knowing whether I am going to be able to part, because I thought I was going to have to check
pull it off. I would be bored out of my mind just making myself in someplace. Yet, at the same time, I was
paintings of different subjects over and over.   completely driven in a way that I have never been
before. A friend begged me not to go to the crime
My artistic process is crazy, and unlike any other artists museum to see the dog fighting exhibition: “It’s like
I know. With the smaller works, I sometimes just get you’re walking around without skin. . .” she said.
an idea and execute it, but, with the larger work, the
process is long, circuitous, and even a bit mysterious… Another quote on my studio wall is this: “Compassion
I make what The Universe tells me to make.   hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also
feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn
MCR: Does the mystery and challenges of constantly away. Your destiny is bound to the destinies of others.
experimenting with new mediums offer you some You must either learn to carry the universe and be
kind of psychological protection from the work you’re crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the
making? You mentioned worrying about its impact on world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table
others. How about your own health? How do you avoid with its worst horrors.” – Andrew Boyd
being crushed under the weight of this work?
All of this also has some relationship to the fact that
KK: That’s an interesting question. I think that, first and I am a recovering Catholic. (Jesus took on the sins of
foremost, experimenting keeps me from being bored, the world.) Although I rejected Catholicism at a fairly
from turning out “product”. I had never really thought young age, I remember being a child, watching Song of
about it as being a type of protection, but that makes Bernadette and Ben Hur and praying for God to send
sense. When I am making the work, I do focus on the me people to help so I could prove what a good person I
formal aspects and the technique, and the execution of was, and how much I had to give. (I think it’s fascinating
the work is rarely painful for me, it actually makes me that some of the most transgressive contemporary artists
feel better. It is the cure for taking in the information were born Catholic.)
in the first place, and my upsetting response to it. But
the research kills me. While I have been making this But, above all, becoming a mother was the greatest
work for 4 or 5 years, I have been researching it for catalyst for this body of work. I somehow feel like I need
over seven years. Seven years of reading and watching to change the world that my daughter is going to live in,
documentaries on rape culture, trophy hunting, racism, and I naively believe that I can do it with my work. I am
misogyny, gun culture, environmental destruction, what Aaron Sorkin calls “The greater fool”. He wrote,

Rape Stand For A Dog Fighter, 2015, ink and photograph on paper, 18 x 24”

Love Object For A Future Trophy Hunter, 2015, embroidery & beading on found plush animal, sheet, pillowcase, pillow, 22 x 25 x 15”

“The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of research, I found an image of what they do to elephants
self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where when they take their tusks for ivory. It still makes me
others have failed.” But, even if what I am doing does not shudder, and it literally haunted me for years until I was
heal the world, it takes steps towards healing me. And I able to make the piece, and say “here. . . this is what
get to feel like I am doing something, which feels a lot they do to these intelligent, sentient creatures. . .
healthier than worrying about the state of the world and LOOK at it. DO something.”
NOT making the work.
Much has been written about the connections
But, this morning, I took great joy in dumping a lot of between fiber work and mending, reparation, love. . .
the disturbing reference images that have been living on For good reason.
my computer. There are a few more pieces that I want to
make, but, when this series is completed, or likely even MCR: You’ve been laboring over Appetites of Oligarchs
sooner, I am going to take a break, and do a beautiful for as long as I’ve known you. Your commitment to
painting of my daughter. capturing the richness of the rug offers a stark contrast
to the disregard shown by your subject. Please tell me
MCR: Your embroidery pieces are powerful. Love Object about this piece.
for a Future Trophy Hunter pains me greatly as do
the others. Is there something about this medium that KK: Yes. I started the life size drawing for this work
felt like the right voice for your concerns regarding the 4 years ago. . . Long before Trump and the #metoo
treatment of animals? movement. The initial impetus for the work was the
Strauss-Kahn rape case at the Sofitel Hotel in New York,
KK: Well, Love Object. . . is about the liminal state where a rich and powerful man was accused of sexually
between children’s instinctual identification with, and assaulting a maid, but it evolved (as most of my large
need to protect, animals, and later feeling entitled to eat, works do) into something much more. It began as an
wear, or even hunt them for the thrill. On a larger scale, image of sexual entitlement, but grew to include other
this piece embodies my confusion about the transition aspects of entitlement, the need to dominate, and the
that humans make in many areas of our lives on the path perpetuation of violence for profit. The night bombing of
from empathy to objectification. Surrounded by dozens Baghdad is featured in the background, and the world’s
of stuffed animals each day, watching my daughter care most expensive carpet sold at auction in the foreground.
for them as if they are her babies, using a stuffed animal
seemed like a natural choice for this piece. This work I had been studying depictions of rape in art: most
was probably the most direct example of the “exorcism depictions of rape were, of course, painted by men, as
through creation” that I spoke of. When doing my almost romantic fantasies of masculine self-actualization,
with women who scarcely seemed to object to their

victimhood. When female artists’ voices were finally Finally, while depicting penises is still considered
heard, virtually all chose to create imagery that focused moderately transgressive, when we discuss women
primarily on the victim’s devastated, post-assault body, painting nude men, it is generally categorized as
focusing on revealing what it feels like to inhabit a something sexual: turning the tables on the male gaze.
woman’s body and psyche in the isolated, numbing While unconventional, a fun, sexy, saleable product
aftermath of rape. is created. A woman painting a male nude in an
unflattering light is less common, and, as witnessed in
I am fairly confident that this is an unprecedented point many reviews of feminist art surveys, many women, like
of view that I am taking in this work. It is a deliberate, myself, are using the penis as a symbol of patriarchy,
physical manifestation of a profound revolutionary shift or aggression. It’s a lot easier and upbeat to say that
happening in our culture. It has taken us thousands of women’s depictions of penises is about consensual sex
years to begin to untangle the systemic misogyny that, than to have that real discussion about power.
throughout history, has repeatedly blamed women for
inciting rapist’s supposedly uncontrollable desire. But, MCR: This exhibition is called Common Denominator.
finally, we are pointing our finger at the rapist, rather What is the thread that runs through this work and what
than the victim. The point of view in this series of does that mean for our society? Or would you prefer to
work reflects that monumental shift: it redirects the let the audience figure this out on their own?
gaze, creating an intersectional battle cry to point at
perpetrators and bullies, not just in circumstances of KK: Well, how does a trophy hunting picture compare
rape, but in many disparate areas where their actions to a snuff film? How is the mounting of a hunting trophy
have long been accepted as the status quo, and even different than the trophies collected by serial killers
encouraged by our culture. Much of the work in this to relive “the thrill of the kill”? What is the difference
series calls out the aggressor, employing what Bell between the sense of entitlement that makes one think
Hooks referred to as “The Oppositional Gaze.” they can drill the living earth (that belongs to all of us)
“By courageously looking”, she said, “we defiantly vs. raping a person? Baiting a lion to leave his protected
declared: ‘Not only will I stare. I want my look to area to shoot him is, in my mind, a powerful metaphor
CHANGE REALITY.” Especially now, when it is so for the Subprime Mortgage Crisis that left so many
easy to shift people’s attention, I am employing this homeless, to make a few people richer.
oppositional gaze in my own work to keep our eyes
upon perpetrators everywhere: not their whipped up I have an entire theory about this, but, in a nutshell. . .
distractions, their excuses, or the violent spectacles for a while now, our culture has accepted (false!)
that they create. rationalizations for the aggressive behavior of
humans, whether enacted on a football field or in a

Appetites of Oligarchs, 2018, acrylic & oil on canvas, gold leaf. 72 x 50.25”

Indoctrination, 2017, Found wood blocks, acrylic

Real Housewives episode. The notion of aspiring to a reminds me of how #alllivesmatter was used to
“higher self” is becoming a foreign concept: it’s “every push back on #blacklivesmatter. How do you thread
man for himself” in the U.S. The traits that we think this needle of identifying problematic expressions of
of as “Alpha” characteristics, the ones that used to be masculinity without condemning all men?
primarily relegated to men, are becoming increasingly
non-gender specific as women gain more power in our KK: A great deal of my work is the result of feeling like
culture, and these tactics are often taught to children of an alien in my my own culture. (I think I have watched
boths sexes as necessary mechanisms of survival. Our three TV shows in the past 30 years.) I exist outside
culture of competition teaches us to win at all costs, of pop culture, for the most part. You see things more
dismissing the weaker, the “losers”, as less valuable. clearly when you are not a part of them. So, for most
of my life, I was not exposed to toxic masculinity,
We have become a nation of bullies. Look around, except maybe in the old film, The Big Country, where
and you will see it everywhere. it was demonized. “Machoheads”, as we called them
in our house, were caricatures. In our huge, extended
And the premise for this “Survival of The Fittest” family, we had only one uncle who was considered
rationale is false. Darwin talked about love and hypermasculine: my father and brothers were soft
cooperation a lot more than he did about “survival of spoken, and loved books, films and music. The most
the fittest”, but Huxley reframed Origin of Species and aggressive I ever saw them was when they watched an
packaged it to the public to serve his own purposes. occasional football game. I left for college, and studied
Every week now, scientists are getting more information art, literature, philosophy, etc., then started teaching
about how different animals actually relate to one at a University. I think it was the advent of the internet
another, and they are much more cooperative, even that I started to understand how how ubiquitous toxic
across species, than any of us previously dreamed. masculinity is, and how profoundly it is reinforced by
Socially progressive countries like Denmark, Finland, our culture. I think I have used this series to understand
Iceland, understand this, they are evolved, they know and process these people and forces that do not make
that we are all connected and need to look out for one sense to me.
another and the earth. Here. . . not so much.
The fact is that a startling percentage of violent acts
MCR: You haven’t used the term “toxic masculinity” but are committed by men, and, historically, most wars
it runs through this exhibition. Are you concerned that and massive acts of oppression are as well. In general,
using that term will alienate male viewers or put them human misery on a large scale can be traced back to toxic
on the defensive? One of the big concerns of the #metoo masculinity. But “toxic masculinity” is not “masculinity”.
movement is a backlash. In a way the #notallmen

The reason that I call this series #bullyculture is because with penises, and it is a fact that, in addition to their
it is not about men, it is about oppressors. Many men have desirable uses, men have also literally wielded them as
been bullied, in all the various physical and psychological weapons against women and other men (more common
ways that can occur. Patriarchy has no gender. . . it hurts than you think) since the dawn of civilization. Relative
men as well as women. There are some women implicated to art history, we are only at the beginning of valuing
in some of this work, and there is more to come. I am women’s art. . . and the biggest part of that process
gestating a piece right now that heavily features a woman is valuing women’s experiences: sexual violence is
as oppressor. certainly one of them.

You either believe that all humans (and I might MCR: Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts
even say “beings”) are deserving of safety and respect, and work with us. This exhibition is likely to produce
or you don’t. I do not worry about alienating viewers, visceral reactions in viewers and I hope they’ll take
or I would never get any work done. I have never the time to consider your thoughts as expressed in this
understood why paint on a canvas upsets people, but conversation because it has enriched my understanding
not the horrible, real events that inspired the painting. of your work and has given me a lot to think about
Because I have had passing sexist comments in past regarding the role of the artist in our society. So thank
reviews, I will admit to a flash of concern that an you again.
unsympathetic reviewer will reframe the body of work,
but I have no control over that. . . except maybe to KK: And thank you, for your consistent bravery and for
get out there and review some other people’s difficult this tremendous opportunity!
shows myself. . . We need roving feminist reviewers,
until a balance in perspective that represents half the
population’s experience is achieved.

And, backlash, well. . . that is inevitable. In the book
A Brief History of Misogyny by Jack Holland, the title
is ironic, because he actually goes through all of
recorded history, and it is chilling how many times
throughout history, women have made progress, only
to lose it. We cannot take anything for granted. Part of
the power of this work is that it is something we have
not seen before. Hetero women, depending upon their
history of sexual assault, have a complicated relationship

TOP IMAGE: Entitled, 2017, photo on aluminum, three 11 x 14” panels
BOTTOM IMAGE: Untitled (flag), 2008, 22.5 x 104”, embroidery on deconstructed flag, batting

DETAIL: Untitled (flag), 2008, 22.5 x 104”, embroidery on deconstructed flag, batting

“Futile Fantasy: A Glimmer of Self-Awareness, & The Subsequent Remorse”, 2017, Prismacolor pencil on black Rives BFK paper, 20 x 16 inches

Lie Hole series (I-XII), 2017, prismacolor pencil on black Rives BFK paper, 10 x 8” each
Lie Hole I

Lie Hole II

Lie Hole III

Lie Hole IV

Lie Hole V

Lie Hole VI

Lie Hole VII

Lie Hole VIII

Lie Hole IX

Lie Hole X

Lie Hole XI

Lie Hole XII

Storm, 2015, acrylic and embroidery on black cotton velvet, 72 x 48”

DETAIL: Storm, 2015, acrylic and embroidery on black cotton velvet, 72 x 48”

Testosterone, 2011, gouache on black paper, glitter frame, 16 x 20”

Good / Evil Monster Battle, 2013, embroidery on men’s pants, 13 x 17” (done in collaboration with G.K.)

The Deadly Other, 2018, photo on aluminum, four 11 x 14” panels