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Ed Kerns, Eugene H. Clapp II ’36 Professor of Art, collaborates with renowned architect and artist Elizabeth Chapman in an exhibit of works opening Sept. 8 at the Florence Lynch Gallery, 529 W. 25th Street, New York City.
Entitled “Hypertexturalities (Architectures & Morphologies),” the show runs through Oct. 30. Curated by Lee Klein, it also includes works by Rick Hildebrandt, Ron Janowich & Merijn van der Heijden, Roy Lerner, Fabian Marcaccio, Mark Milloff, Will Pappenheimer, and Tyrome Triploli.
Following its stay at the gallery, several works in the exhibit will move to the University of Texas at El Paso. In January 2008 Chapman and Kerns will show these and other works at Lafayette’s Skillman Library.
Kerns and Chapman took a unique look at architecture this summer, focusing on how deep-seated patterns in nature, society, and the brain are infused into the design of cities and buildings. Their project is the product of digital imaging, where images of predominantly Italian cities were melded and layered with images of various human cells.
Sometimes text would be intertwined to create a “mind in the city, city of the mind” theme, which was fueled by Chapman’s knowledge of medieval city development coupled with her knowledge of neurology, says Kerns, an internationally known painter who has mounted more than 30 one-person shows in galleries in New York City, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, including three shows in the 1990s at New York’s Howard Scott Gallery. His most recent exhibit, of new paintings, was held last fall at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem, Pa.
“Elizabeth Chapman’s interest in medieval parts of towns led to the idea of architecture based on social interaction and the idea that structures in our brain reflect the architecture we build. This is about organic growth, which we related to the body and the mind,” Kerns says.
Chapman is an award-winning mixed media artist whose work has appeared in numerous exhibitions in the United States and she continues to maintain her architectural practice as well. While at M.I.T. completing her Master’s Degree, Chapman studied the development of Italian culture and how medieval neighborhood architecture developed. She has a particular interest in “nested forms.”
According to Chapman, neighborhoods had to be structured so that people who know each other could get to the center, inviting the familiar and keeping out the unfamiliar and foreign. The cities were designed in layers, with the outside layer being for the outside public. More activity happens in the next layer, containing mostly street interactions. Then there was a move to the center of the city where the transfer of knowledge takes place. This theme is prevalent throughout the work.
“This project pulls together much of what we already know about ourselves, and how that inner world influences the outer world,” says Kerns.
Some of the printed imagery includes the city of Venice compared to a human ribcage, the city of “old” Rome compared to epidermal cells, and modern Rome compared to a nerve cell.
“Collaboration is by nature something which de-emphasizes the individual and emphasizes the product. The collaborative thoughts and work of many people lead to more of an interest in the quality of the product, rather than focusing on each individual’s role. This has a marvelous impact on the final product and far exceeds what one person could bring to the table,” Chapman says.
A member of the faculty since 1980, Kerns has participated in more than 150 group exhibitions in the United States, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Mexico. His work is in numerous public and corporate collections, including those of the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Citicorp, New York City; Bass Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, Fla.; Chase Manhattan Bank, New York City; and Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas. It has been reviewed in many journals, magazines, and newspapers.
Kerns has mentored more than 400 students in research projects, independent studies, and honors projects. A number of students helped Kerns and Chapman in their work. Art majors Emily Gillespie ’07 (Hammonton, N.J.), Alaina Lackman ’09 (Philadelphia, Pa.), Danielle Schreier ’07 (New York, N.Y.), and Allison Thompson ’08 (Saddle River, N.J.) were part of the creative process.
Chapman has published a number of articles on topics related to art. She currently teaches at the Boca Raton Museum Art School.