Originally published in The Paper, April 1970. Dates, prices and contacts are historical; current availability is not established.
Exciting music by Robert Wykes, performed by the Washington University Band with spectacular percussion effects produced by Rich O’Donnell. A room packed with as diverse a group od people one could ever see gathered. Costumes ranging the entire fashion spectrum, and freely flowing wine (if one were close enough to its source).
Under most circumstances all this would have overwhelmed the participant and he would have forgotten about the paintings he was supposedly present to see. But not so with Bill Kohn’s opening at Loretto Hilton Gallery, March 3. For the paintings refused to be ignored.
The exhibit is titled “Combustion Chambers and Protean Projectiles”. Kohn makes use of mechanical shapes and utilizes mechanical means to produce them. But he has accomplished the tremendous feat of utilizing these mechanical forms to achieve very human ends. The mechanical becomes the servant of the human.
Directly painted geometric forms are placed on the canvas first. These images form the background and the negative spaces they create are significantly vital to the painting. The intereaction of all these forms — positive and negative — and those later silk-screened, on create tremendous excitement. Various photographic idioms are combined with hard-edge shapes, and the end result is new and vital and real.
These paintings may frustrate a viewer who wants to know “what it means”; they provide no difficulty in deciding “what it is”. Kohn uses such things as bolw ups of IBM typewriter balls, photos of people he may or may not know, parts of engines etc. But he puts them into new contexts and sees them in new ways.
All of it is very now; all of it is deeply concerned with various aspects of our urban and technological environment. All is indeed a pleasure to see. The exhibit runs through April 3.
Originally published in The Paper, April 1970.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1970_04.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 7.
