PRESS RELEASE:

Historically, many artists have taken inspiration from a specific location. Whether it be the climate, the natural landscapes or the culture, the artists feel enriched by the setting. Painter Karen Kern’s art has flourished as she has settled in Centerport, New York, The images of life in a port community is faithfully and lovingly rendered by Ms. Kern. Fishing boats, docks, buoys, marshes and the wildlife embody the simple but rewarding life in these smaller communities. Ms. Kern frequently focuses solely on the object itself, whether it be a dinghy or a fishing boat. This serves to signify to the audience that these objects do not serve only as utilitarian items to transport people, but they are additionally  – and, for Ms. Kern, perhaps primarily – beautiful objects that make beautiful paintings. This sense is heightened as there are usually no people within these paintings to distract from the importance of the boats or docks. These familiar objects are unquestionably the center of Ms. Kern’s paintings.

Trained in Photo-Realism and former assistant to Audrey Flack, Ms. Kern has evolved in her own manifestation of photo-realism. Her art vividly reproduces the models that they are based upon, yet there is always a definitive painterly aspect to the art as well. It is realistic painting that is a s much about painting as it is about realism. Furthermore, Ms. Kern has added the technological possibilities in computer imaging to augment her work. These gloriously colored paintings render Ms. Kern at the forefront of “Digital Realism.”

The New York Times has previously noted of Ms. Kern’s art that “Her fidelity is to the images that she sees and the careful, accurate representation of those images,” concluding that “her work deserves attention.” Most recently, Ms. Kern has exhibited her paintings at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Long Island and her paintings are featured in several important corporate collections, including Morton Communications, Montresor & C. Srl of Verona, Italy and Deloitte,Haskins & Sells, Inc. who had thirteen paintings of Ms. Kern’s in a permanent exhibit lost a t One World Trade Center.  Frequently exhibited in upstate New York, the Long Island region and New York City, Ms. Kern’s paintings are full of vibrant color contrasts, shimmering light and exact detail. Her paintings are stirring in the magnitude displayed and the subtle beauty revealed.