My approach…I attack art-making with the intensity and improvisational antics of a free form jazz virtuoso. In so doing I struggle, really struggle, to remain mindless, being all at once attached and detached suspending judgment, letting it flow. -- Robert Kasper
On view in the Regional Artists Gallery at the Bennington Museum are works by Robert Kasper, artist, designer, educator, and creative theorist. With over four decades of a storied global career, Kasper currently focuses his considerable attention and energy on personal and visual expression and offers his expertise to businesses and corporations worldwide. Regardless of the time, place, media, or reason, the connective tissue that runs through all of his work is the diversity of visual expression itself. Always the creator and explorer, searching for tension and aliveness, Kasper remains committed to being uncommitted to a style or theme. This exhibition opened on March 24 and is on view through May 6.Working in varied mediums, in the early 60’s Kasper had the great fortune to have studied painting with Raymond Hendler and color theory with Sewell Sillman at Parsons School of Design. He continued his visual studies at The Sorbonne, in Paris. After graduation, having parallel interest in painting/graphic design and art direction, he accepted an entry level position at DDB where he had the opportunity to work alongside some of the industry’s most luminary art directors, designers, film producers, directors and writers. Years later, Kasper began work with Richard Avedon on a collaborative project for Chesebrough-Ponds. Receiving recognition for outstanding work, he was recognized as a creative leader in the industry, and a person who took his greatest pride in being respected for his successes in nurturing creative individuals and organizations. In 1987, Kasper launched his own design group KasperDesign, selecting international talent to match with the firm’s prestigious client group which spanned a vast variety of media.
Kasper’s activities, past and present, culminate in his studio work as he remains compelled to create his own visual language. A body of personal visual work spanning four decades fills his Berkshire studio today. He has never stopped working on his personal visual expression, continuing to execute works in a broad range of materials, from more traditional ones like graphite and Conte Crayon on paper, to the more experimental including dipped textiles, found objects, fired roofing material, electrical supply remnants, waste paper and packing cartons. On his exhibited work, Kasper states “The materials found in the included works are often scraps, remains or remnants of human behavior and activity gathered together, manipulated, and composed. The three dimensional works in paper were originally inspired by toppled trash bins of discarded newspapers. Crushing paper with little or no forethought, I fold, bend and crease it to choreograph a never-ending dance between form, shape, and plane, light and shadow.”The Bennington Museum is located at 75 Main Street (Route 9) in Bennington. Regular admission is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and students over 18. Visit the museum’s website www.benningtonmuseum.org or call 802-447-1571 for more information.
Images:
Lost, 2009. 42” x 51”, Acrylic on corrugated box with tape
Chaos #1, 2006. 44” x 60”, Tempera, colored, pencil, pastel, ink and marker on paper
