Alex Helen Kuehne's Projects

BFA Student

Major: Painting

Graduation Year: 2017

Artist Statement:

We are aware of the beginning and the end, but not the in between; it happens too slow to see, although it feels too fast and has no hierarchy. When watching a dance performance, the spectator has an empathetic interaction with the dancer's body and movements. They do not imagine the movement but understand the action. In contrast, when viewing a minimalist art work, the viewer has an understanding of the material used and thus, has an empathetic reaction which is rooted in theatricality. Just as a pointe shoe, they are activated by the interaction with the audience, an object mediated by the dancer. This series of panels aims to engage with the theatrical interaction and understanding of movement that is made meaningful by the presence of the audience.
I want to embrace the performative element of portraiture and present the viewer with a mediated interaction, achieved through installation and short-handed action painting and its antithesis: glazing with oils.

Biography:

Alex Kuehne was born in 1994 in Austin, Texas. Kuehne uses oil paint and installation to negotiate identity in contemporary culture. She will receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting with a minor in Art History from Maine College of Art in 2017. Kuehne has received awards and recognition in Maine College of Arts BFA and Merit shows. She also co-curated the “It Was All Very Queer” show in the spring of 2016 in the Artist at Work space at MECA. Kuehne currently lives and works in Portland, Maine.