Pascal Kern
French, 1952-2007
Sculpture, 1994
cibachrome and bronze, triptych
13 1/8 × 17 1/4 × 2 in. each
SBMA, Gift of Timothy A. Eaton
2018.19.4a-c
COMMENTS
Born in 1952, Pascal Kern lived and worked in Paris, where he studied at the Sorbonne. Kern uses photography to produce ‘sculptures’, which explore the question of volume in all its aspects: the relationships between volume and surface, fullness and emptiness, mass and color, depth and contour. Using found or natural forms, he elevates the every-day to an almost iconic status; fascinated with the space created and occupied by the subject, and the purity of its form.
The metal industrial objects and wooden moulds are retrieved from old factories and foundries, while the vegetables are grown from seed. The artist lived with his subject matter for a period of time before photographing, taking only one photograph which is later reproduced to life-size. The cibachrome photographs of each subject are presented as diptychs, triptychs or polyptychs, in frames constructed with related materials. The final stage in the long process of crafting these incredible works is for them to be hung specifically (with precise instructions from the artist) to achieve a perfect balance; the work appearing almost weightless whilst creating an unusually powerful presence.
https://hackelbury.co.uk/artists/pascal-kern/
SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS
An accomplished artist less-known in the United States than in Europe, Pascal Kern studied at the Sorbonne and lived and worked in Paris. In Sculpture, the work for which he is most recognized, Kern literally appears to have fused image with object, photography with sculpture. Preferring heavy materials for their innate sense of history and presence, Pascal adopted the traditional materials of sculpture, such as bronze, to craft works that bring the photograph out of the conventional frame and into the surrounding embrace of a three-dimensional object. As its title proclaims, this three-part work indeed appears more a piece of sculpture than anything else, yet Kern insists on hanging this triptych on the wall as one would any two-dimensional work of
art. References to natural forces of age and wear; history and history painting; and icons, altarpieces, and ritual objects are all present in this enigmatic ensemble that approaches, for all its references, the entirely abstract.
- A Brilliant Spectrum, 2019