Kerri Augenstein

BODY LANGUAGE: A STUDY OF DOTS + FIGURES + SELF

Just about all of my work starts with a question. Why? Why not? Says who? Where does that come from? Some directed to the “out there”. Some to the “in here”. My thesis is about the making that came out of my questions. Making that started because of fears, or a wanting to be open, or of a refusal to accept self criticism. Making that forced me to face my relationship with cultural conditioning—both positive and negative—in the form of self-portraits and critical writing. Making that helps form connections between my words and marks and conscious/ unconscious thinking through deconstructive poetry and obsessive dots and metaphoric figure studies. Making that helps me understand my relationship with topics like education and creativity and beauty.

What I’m discovering, is that my practice begins first with keeping myself open and honest and curious. I adamantly avoid “answers”, and “knowing”, and feeling “convinced” that anything exists without change or movement. Because of this I often discover paradox in most everything I do. I’m realizing that while my awareness expands through all of this work, the results are inevitably, more questions— and therefore, more searching…

www.kaugenstein.com/dotsandfigures

➤ Contact