Zorn Zipper

Statement on the Color Bomb series

Color does not need to represent anything other than itself. It is universal yet nothing is more personal. And that’s how I present these paintings. I’m distilling something that struck me, but the interpretations and feelings they provoke in others can be infinite.  I want the Color Bombs to radiate across the room but to also whisper quietly beside you.  I want big sound and silence. Many of my shapes, forms and colors have been extracted from the mountains of Pennsylvania where I live and work, but I also sample bits and pieces of memories and places I’ve never been. There are trunks of trees, winter skies, deer legs, the pink from a summer watermelon and Greek islands I’ve always wanted to see. These are some of the sparks that start a painting but they are not the whole story.  Even if a painting was initially inspired by something exotic, or an extremely personal event on the other side of the planet, all my work is filtered through my studio in the hills of Appalachia. The colours, silence, space, seasons, landscape, even the rednecks impact everything I make. It’s inescapable.

About the Artist

Kurt Herrmann is an artist from the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania who does both figurative and abstract work, but above all is a colourist at heart. Two of his recent shows were featured in Time Out Chicago and the Philadelphia Inquirer, with recent shows in Tasmania (Penny Contemporary), New Orleans (Octavia Gallery), Auckland (12 Gallery), Philadelphia (James Oliver Gallery), and Sydney (Traffic Jam Galleries). His work is in prominent collections across the US, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, including Capitol One Corporate Headquarters (Wilmington, DE), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York, NY), and Temple University (Philadelphia, PA). Recent commissions include large work for Hotel Del Coronado (San Diego, CA), and a line of beer labels for Elk Creek Café + Aleworks (Millheim, PA). Although his exhibition schedule is increasingly international, Herrmann’s rural Pennsylvania roots continue to influence his work.