After a couple of false starts, AM finally got to see Karin Krommes‘ latest solo exhibition entitled Reign at Waterhouse & Dodd in London. Her beautifully layered paintings in oil and acrylic feature portraits of aircraft parts from discarded and abandoned planes. The principal series of Reign are four diptych presentations of ejector seats from fighter jets, rendered in so much beautiful detail that they feel almost as three-dimensional as the installation piece within the gallery of a Martin-Baker Mk2 housing a tree-filled landscape arrangement.
This is Karin’s second solo with the gallery – her first also bringing a series of aeronautical themed works, as seemingly the majority of her oeuvre does. AM first came across Karin’s work in 2009 during the Miami Basel fair circuit. We were taken by her Still series of works, where the shapes of aircraft are meticulously cut out from the sky over her painted landscapes. The resultant negative image is presented with stunning clarity by the overlaying of the work onto a primary background. We enjoyed seeing a couple of these pieces again within Reign – the orange background of the stencil cutting being particularly effective against the snow-laden mountain range setting.
Rounding off the exhibition, and providing a wonderful foil to the details of the aeronautical detritus, are a series of landscape based works featuring drone aircraft and satellites floating over mountain-tops. Krommes uses a clever mirror image mechanism within the paintings, seemingly looking in on the more elemental work within the exhibition.
Reign closes this weekend on 13th July, so this is your very last chance to go view the work yourself.
Discuss Karin Krommes here.
