Morphologie
Lev Khesin
9783954762620
192 pages
Distanz Verlag Gmbh Llc
Overview
The painter and object artist Lev Khesin (b. in Russia, lives and works
in Berlin) makes work that brings the complex interactions between
color and materiality into focus. Defying the sway of linguistic
systems, Khesin, who graduated from Frank Badur’s master class,
explores the cognitive potential of an art unfettered by concepts imposed
on objects and phenomena. In a time-consuming process and
using diverse tools, he spreads out multiple overlaid strata of translucent
silicone dyed in a variety of hues, molding smooth surfaces and
rutted structures. By painting in silicone enhanced with pigments,
Khesin appeals to the senses of vision and touch in equal measure.
In Western culture, and certainly since the Enlightenment, these have
long been regarded as antagonists: seeing has been thought of as a
distancing, “pure,” and intellectual mode of perception antithetical
and superior to the contaminating contact of touch. In this sense,
Khesin’s paintings undo a dichotomy that more recently fueled the
dispute over figural representation and abstraction.
