Katherine Nemanich’s piece Duality 1 is composed of collage and ink on paper. Though only two colors are featured in this piece - black and white - the intense contrast of flat ink next to 3D paper construction results in a simplistic yet incredibly engaging final product. If we look at the natural world around us, whether it is the dark space behind a blue sky or the abyss beneath a glistening surface of water, darkness tends to fall behind and light is seen in the forefront. Katherine Nemanich’s use of 3D white textures and 2D black strokes takes this flat piece of work on a wall and stretches it forwards and backwards in space. Inspired by energy in its various forms and elements of the physical world, Duality 1 generates the feeling of a moment or movement in time, restricted by nothing other than the thin black frame surrounding it. Using brushes in different sizes to display the ink on the paper, Nemanich finds her gestures while listening to jazz or classical music, allowing sound to define the energy that she captures. Thoughtful yet just careless enough, the strokes of ink are calming and fluid to the silent observer. As eyes tend to follow the curves and motion in the piece, the collections of paper disrupt the natural flow and invoke a thorough investigation of details and shadows among piles of more intricate texture. Katherine Nemanich’s work is an engaging side-by-side of both simplistic and complex aspects of energy and form, captured in distinct, individual pieces.
