Kottie Paloma

A KURIOUS LUST

Text by Domenico de Chirico

BJORN & GUNDORPH GALLERY, Aarhus

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Springing from the concept of Einfühlung, at the base of aesthetic theory, the concept was first developed by the German art historian and philosopher Robert Vischer and subsequently supported by his fellow countryman, philosopher and psychologist Theodor Lipps, it is usually understood as empathy or symbolic sympathy.

 

What distinguishes Kottie Paloma's visceral painting most is pansexualism, a vital boundless and heartfelt lust, blood-red vigorous color and at the core of the works a multidisciplinary orientation of an evocative matrix. 

 

The title of the exhibition; A KURIOUS LUST, follow the essence of the artist creative approach, while playing with choices that highlights the places of production for the works themselves. The bizarre multiplicity of the addressed topics are inherent in the title of this new exposition: in fact, "curious", in its etymology, has a lot in common with the bizarre, since the thirst of he who creates to perfection has always been as eccentric as it is deep and insatiable, as it continually invigorate the heart and then consumes it.

 

The body of works, influenced by mythology, history, and the exegesis of the village where the artist lives, contains references everywhere from ritual Nordic aesthetic, music and contemporary living in general. From his private life, rock painting, colors of nature and the distinct atmosphere within abstract expressionism. 

 

The works are a hymn dedicated to composition. Color seems to scream between both linear and twisted conspiracies. An intelligent use of the brush unfolds a wisdom physical and of a single body. In his hand the squeezed and dripping world moves through as the colors meticulously pierce the artist's skin. In the final result it is therefore unknown how mysterious and obscure the place from which the artist himself comes. However, there is a common thread that beyond the manual skill of the artist, unites all works, in the exhibition and beyond.

 

Paloma almost always begins with the creation of patterns that later develop into a more complex image which becomes deeply overwhelming. Paloma paints on sheets of paper, which then become material for large and more complex collages, he uses patterns created in the proces and imprinting them on the canvas, then proceeds with the creation of the final composition. Therefore, the same patterns can be found on several canvases and collages like a sap transplanting color and then expand into swirling, venous outcomes.

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The energy finds a spontaneous gracefulness thanks to the abstractionism and spatial suggestions that the works create. The red shade pulsates continually and when not present it acts as a red-hot background to the other colors. The red trait scratched and ancestral, mixes dancing children, violence, suffocating silence, ceremonial mystics, unsolved politics, cruelty and vain sacrifices, in it's imagery. Beauty. In this exhibition Kottie Paloma is dedicated to the color red in every single one of his paintings.