KEN BUHLER
Coral (Gold), 2008. Lithograph and etching. 38 x 28 in. (bleed(. Edition of 25
Coral (Blue), 2008. Lithograph and etching. 38 x 28 in. (bleed(. Edition of 25
In” Coral Blue” and “Coral Gold”, Ken Buhler embarks on a printmaking adventure in lithography and etching. Related to his “Coral Series” paintings (2006-2012), the prints explore the undersea world of these linear and colorful forms.
In “Coral Blue” the artist establishes a warm ground then layers light blue and ochre lithographic washes, creating a watery depth. The artist then adds a layer of deep blue etching lines, describing the details of the coral’s surface. By varying the weight of the line from thin to bold, a dramatic space opens up in the page, and we start to imagine what it might be like to move through this underwater environment.
B. 1955 IOWA
Ken Buhler draws from nature for his motifs, exploring coral, plant forms, and patterns of growth.Art critic Roberta Smith has written in the New York Times that Buhler’s paintings “are beautifully made and distinguished by an ambition to reduce nature to a state of luminous abstraction.” His paintings, drawings, and prints blend abstraction and recognizable imagery–often drawn from botanical or decorative forms–to explore the “terra incognita” of the natural world. Working with washes of bold color, meandering lines, stencils, and rubber stamps, Buhler creates images that feel at once new and familiar, revealing a world both luminous and layered.
Buhler has exhibited widely in New York City and throughout the United States and Europe since the late 1980’s. In recent years he has worked on print projects with Jungle Press ofBrooklyn, VanDeb Editions of NYC, and Oehme Graphics of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.His solo exhibitions include shows at Lesley Heller Gallery, O'Hara Gallery, Michael WallsGallery, and the Beach Museum of Art, Kansas. His work has been reviewed in many publications including The New York Times, Arts, Artnews, and Art in America. Buhler’s work can be seen in many public and private collections, including the Wichita Museum ofFine Art, the de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, the Maslow Collection, IBM, and the Ulrich Museum of Fine Arts, Wichita, Kansas. Buhler has been awarded numerous grants and fellowships from noted institutions including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (1987, 2009),the New York Foundation for the Arts (1994, 2009), and a fellowship from the NationalEndowment for the Arts in painting in 1987. He has been a fellow at MacDowell, Jentel, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, and Ballinglen Arts Foundation (Ireland). Buhler is aProfessor Emeritus in the Studio Arts program at Bard College, where he taught for 22 years.