When We're Not Looking..." is an exhibit of paintings and drawings on un-stretched canvas and brown paper. The canvases are back lit, creating a luminous experience for the viewer. These canvases also hang on the wall in a special way developed by the artist. They remain un-stretched and therefore flexible and mobile, retaining a connection with art made thousands of years ago on animal hides.
Kerkhoff uses various mediums: acrylic, gesso, pastel, oil pastel, ink, graphite, white-out. Poems by various poets the artist likes are also placed beside the works of art. It is a way of having a conversation sort of like fulfilling the artists's desire to sit down and share a drink with these poets.
He explores the unkempt experience of creation, the process, the interactions and relationships that develop over time. He believes art can reveal our prejudices, illusions, and the box-like structures that our perceptions can inhabit. It is a humbling experience.
He is learning that we can make breakthroughs when we stay and remain looking and relating with that which we can not easily identify and label. And also stay and remain looking and relating with that which we all too easily identify and label. If we stay open, something unexpected happens. Something is created and there is change. This experience can happen while looking at a painting over time. This is one of the reasons he paints.
"I often see through things right to the apparition itself." --Grace Paley
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