About
Artist Statement
I remember finding some blueprints of Peter Eisenman’s redesign of the Design, Art, Architecture and Planning building at the University of Cincinnati. They were stacked up on a table outside the printmaking studio, yellowing with age. I didn’t understand exactly what I was looking at, but every line in those blueprints was perfect. They had to have been rendered on a computer. It was funny seeing such precise drawings; they gave no indication of what the space was actually like. There are columns on the outside of the building that look like concrete, but when you tap on them, you realize they are not exactly what they appear to be. This became extremely apparent when one of my classmates pushed a cart into a column on accident and created a gaping hole.
I remain attracted to architecture because of that hole. The architect designs the plans (a translation of imagination into two dimensions, maybe three dimensions if there is a model) and a construction crew (of dozens, maybe hundreds) translates these two dimensions into three dimensions. And this three-dimensional space is supposed to transcend the fourth dimension. We don’t want to think the building may eventually collapse on us.
Over time, though, something else happens. The space gets used and reshaped. It starts to wear. The people who use the space make it into something personal to them. But how can a person show this temporal transformation? The difference between architectural rendering and my drawings is not just the difference between a precise image and a freehand image created with wavering lines; it’s the difference between reading technical specs and a novel. I am not privileging the novel over the technical specs, but I know I learn more from the novel.
Bio
Michael Kellner has a BFA from the University of Louisville and a MFA from the University of Cincinnati. He is an active artist, student, teacher, husband, father, runner, reader, music collector and filmgoer, although not always necessarily in that order. He currently lives in Columbus, Ohio.