Kevin Kremler: Postcards From The Grey Area

I attended Kevin Kremler's lecture on April 5th in the Church Fine Arts building.  Kevin is a friend of mine that I met last semester and ever since I have met Kevin I have never personally seen his work completed.  I say completed because during spring break I spent a lot of time in the sculpture studio with him and watching his progress but never asking him about his project.  I did this on purpose because I wanted to wait until he was ready for his reception and had it all set up so I could see it in it's full glory.  His lecture was very interesting because it gave more of an understanding to his work and where his inspiration comes from.  His interest in the grey area and tensions are something that I believe every artist tampers with but not all can succeed.  Kevin's show does a good job at evoking a feeling of tension because when putting sand in his main piece there is a feeling of unknowing of the outcome.  As I was viewing this particular piece I watched other viewers and took note of their reactions.  Some people were really timid about putting the colored sand into the vessels, they would just put a little and kind of back away quickly as soon as they did put it into the piece.  This was very entertaining to me and I feel like it would be to Kevin as well.  It was all interaction based and I thought that part of it was intriguing.  Something I really enjoyed about the show was the postcard portion.  Everyone was so confused when they got their postcards because it shows different images than what they thought was going to be printed.  It is a trick on the subject, makes them even more vulnerable because their outcome was expected but not filled.  In the end it is nice to have hard proof of being at the show though.  Kevin's craftsmanship in his projects is very good, I watched him make some of his show in the studio and how focused he is on the smallest of measurements.  I am really glad that I never gave in and asked him about the project because I had made up my own preconceptions about what it may be, in a way I was making a bet with myself and he proved me wrong because it completely surprised me.  Kevin is an amazing person who is very into the things he is doing in his life and I respect him for being so down to earth.  Not to bad talk other artists but some can be so full of themselves they don't see anyone else.