KenzZinger Art
Marble On a Board
Marble on a Board
Three figures are asked to play a game. Each is handed a board with a center dot and a marble. The goal: keep the marble on the dot. The first figure sees the marble roll and makes a hasty shift of the board. The marble rolls past, and a reaction even greater must be applied to re- correct. This continues until the marble can no longer be controlled and topples. Seeing the drastic effort and failure of the first, the second figure is overwhelmed and chooses to believe the game pointless. They set down the board and turn away. The marble becomes lost. The third takes up their board and keeps their eye on the goal. The marble may roll, but small efforts guide it back toward the center aim. Although the marble is never permanent on the dot, it is with these mindful adjustments that the game is won.
In this body of work, I am depicting this game within the concept of life. Inspired by the beautiful nature I grew up immersed in, I render this strive for mindfulness and balance, sometimes pointing to the irony of our constant destruction of that which sustains. Each body shifts through time, posed with different realities or choices. Limbs mirror the adjustments and uncertainties that maintain our continuation of play. While expressions reveal the various mindsets of which we are capable.
I'm also a dancer. Although I once thought of this activity as a distraction to my art, I now see it as a powerful catalyst. There is tension, freedom and balance in dance, the same qualities I feel in art. At some points in my work, I invite the presence of line, freeing both its aggressive and flowing nature, while in others I render in a more illusionistic way. When I choreograph, or teach routines, I often call a similar ebb-and-flow to light, responding to the unique voice it projects. This dance intertwines with my continued search for balance and mindfulness, the lines themselves forever searching and striving to find synchronicity.
Whether a simple game, a single stroke of charcoal, a stable relevé, or the fate of our world, could it be the consistent shifting and understanding of the goal that is the true answer? Can we posture our gaze like the third figure? Like watering a plant, it is not a flood, nor a drought, but instead a steady flow of mindful care. If not the polarized solutions of doing ‘everything’ or ‘nothing’, could it be the everyday tasks and mindful effort that keep our world in balance? In the end, the questions we pose become not only the path, but the answer itself.
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Twenty Twenty Identity
Twenty Twenty Identity
“Once used to conceal identity, faces hidden by masks are now simply a byproduct of physical safety. However, the societal need for such an article of clothing does little to change the fact that it hinders easily read facial expressions and identity itself. The faces of those you pass on the street are narrowed to eyes, and for months your friends and coworkers have been recognized by half of a face. In this body of work, I hope to address this very real change of outward identity that has taken place as a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic, Presented in my work are real people of all ages, describes in the authentic way they are currently viewed and recognized by society. The purpose of this series is not to dramatize the use of these materials, but to simply free an honest representation of the current identity of those living during this time.
Set within the context of classic portraiture, the use of space within this work has been compressed, as if bodies can exist within the same volume and space. Iridescent inks on the surface shine as a light in the grey portraits of this era, its fickle nature glinting and disappearing dependent on the surrounding light. The word turns despite the uncertainty of a pandemic, and so humanity continues as well. Although, these days, children’s smiles have become squinted eyes and lifted eyebrows, the world turns. Expression of grandparents are read only by deepening wrinkles. The world turns. I no longer pause to see myself wearing a mask in the mirror, but instead startled when I look upon my person without. This is what my, and so many others’, identity has become… and the world turns.”
Just Keep Swimming
Just Keep Swimming
It's a mission of mine to paint not so beautiful things in a beautiful way, and in this series, I did just that. In each piece, I incorporated a mixture of common plastic materials, which are currently causing serious problems in the earth's oceans. To offset the gruesome incorporation of literal waste, I chose to depict differing types of sea creatures which are being effected by human pollution.
A Natural Relationship
A Natural Relationship
This series contains a set of three large figurative pieces created to describe the relationship between humanity and nature, wether it be positive or negative. In each piece, I demonstrate this relationship through the use of models and invented space, while keeping a composition which can stand individually or as a whole.
Listen Series
Listen Series
This series contains a variety of drawing pertaining to music and the act of distracting oneself through a variety of technology. This series also explores thoughts on sound and the hierarchy in which it is measured, whether it be sound through nature or technology.