Norte Maar is pleased to present It’s no one’s fault an exhibition of new work by artist Kristen Jensen. A blushing rock, spills, handles, cigarettes, gum/teeth, fractured plates, a collapsing box, and a paper shadow are are some of the objects laid out for the viewer that fluctuate between representation and abstraction. The artist’s desire for control and perfection is challenged by both the unpredictability of the medium and the traces of the artist’s body. This tension is reflected in the flaws, cracks, and subtle finishes that transform everyday objects into things both pathetic and poetic. Also on exhibition will be two paintings by Katie Kehoe. The exhibition opens with a reception for the artists, Friday, May 4, 6-10pm. The gallery at Norte Maar is open weekends, 1-6pm or by appointment.

Kristen Jensen is an artist living and working in New York City. She received her BFA in printmaking from Syracuse University and her MFA from Hunter College in Combined Media. Jensen’s projects are media specific often requiring her to learn new artistic skill sets to realize each new idea, such as ceramic mold-making and furniture making. Her projects explore an area of art that has been termed Romantic Conceptualism including her relationships with friends, collaborators, and mental/physical disorders. Her work chronicles and counters difficult emotional subjects with obsessive and exhaustive series of sculpture, photography, and recently painting. Her work has been included in Pop Up Portrait show curated by Austin Thomas at Scot Cohen, Anomalous Urges curated by Courtney Tramposh at Vaudville Park, Haute Romantics (with Cian McConn), curated by Paddy Johnson at Verge Gallery, and Magicality at Platform Gallery in Seattle, WA.

Ritual and the questioning of the line that exists between strength and weakness, control and disorder finds material form in the porcelain objects that are part of my practice. The work contrasts beauty with destruction, and intimate, emotional explorations with formal investigations of material and media. The twisted, bloated, and cracked forms in the former belie a certain strength inherent to the medium and suggest an awkwardness that stems from physical duress and manipulation of the material. Oscillating between more organic abstract forms that suggest rocks or bodily organs to a dinner plate that becomes like the food it is supposed to hold. I invoke ritual through the repetition inherent in the medium in combination with the implications of the objects/functions (cigarettes/smoking, eating) themselves. Limitations of materiality become psychological, as they thwart my attempts at a controlled outcome. – Kristen Jensen

http://kristen-jensen.com/

About Katie Kehoe: Katie Kehoe was born in Canada and currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland. She received an MFA from the Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, attended the Interactive Art and Entertainment Program at the Canadian Film Center’s Media Lab in Toronto, CAN, earned a BA Honors in International Development and English from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, CAN, and has apprenticed with Joan Jonas. The subject matter of her work is most distilled in her drawing and painting practice, where she uses the word “AND” as a mode of expression as well as a structural tool. By applying “AND” through processes of repetition, overlap, magnification and distortion she investigates the nature of form and language as constructions. Her work has been presented in various festivals and galleries in Canada and the United States. Recent exhibitions include LOL: A Decade of Antic Art, curated by Sue Spaid, The Contemporary Museum, ZIG ZAG, curated by Rod Malin, Guest Spot Gallery, Construct, Curated by Margaret Winslow, School 33 Art Center, in Baltimore, MD and Soap Box, Hillyer Art Space in Washington, DC.

http://www.katiekehoe.com/

About Norte Maar: Norte Maar for Collaborative Projects in the Arts is a 501©3 arts organization with a mission to build community, foster artistic expression, and raise the imaginative energy in us all through collaborations. Norte Maar creates, promotes, and presents collaborations within the disciplines of visual, literary, and the performing arts with an emphasis on community outreach. Norte Maar connects visual artists, choreographers, composers, writers, and other originating artists with venues and each other. Norte Maar depends on the generous support of individuals. To help us continue our creative projects please visit: http://nortemaar.org/support/