Received MA - Karen Champlin (Illinois) - MANY THX!!!

[Julian Grant]

ART NATION - Karen Champlin has sent me another signature piece bound in thread and full of partial images and textural detail. The continuing themes of isolation, restriction and blood abound - with the stamp "BOY" added. Who is this child? He appears happy but is looking away from the viewer - unable to share his joy.

The cardboard KC uses for her work is cut and torn, stapled and tied providing a battered yet strong base for this memory/ dreamscape work.

I am much drawn to the artists who explore personal memory and reshape experience and the past - presenting it in a new and fractured format. KC consistently provides rich subconscious art that flows from her to many MA followers worldwide. It is a rich and dark pool that she draws from.

Are these memories real or make believe? Is the work to be believed as personal experiences - or emblematic of a larger fictional universe?

Regardless of context, and I don't believe it matters whether it is true or false memory, we have engaging and consistant art from one of the stongest Midwest practioners of MA and assemblage art. BRAVO, KC!!