![]() ![]() Born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1927, Kahn immigrated to England in 1939 and subsequently moved to the United States in 1940. Wolf Kahn is the foremost landscape painter working in America today. This ambiguity tends to distance the viewer while at the same time holding him transfixed by the sheer visual abundance of these enchanting canvases. However, upon closer inspection, their content remains elusive, presenting a personal imagery that resists full disclosure. One is tempted on an immediate level to categorize them from the perceived specific iconography. The paintings include references to astronomical and astrological signs like spirals, knots and other interwoven patterns amidst self-portraits and other figurative imagery. The dense detail of his imagery draws the viewer to contemplate the deceptively specific iconography that suggests ancient cultures of the Near East and Mesoamerica. Smith’s paintings can be viewed as symbolic personal pictographs that encourage the viewer to try and decipher their message, much as if they were written in cuneiform or hieroglyphic writing. He is also the best-selling author of Walking Through Walls, a memoir of life with his faith healer, psychic father in Miami during the '50s and '60s. Smith is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Grant and attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Artist and writer Philip Smith paints modernist figurative works in a mixed-media format. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |