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About The Sheep And The Goats
Product description The Sheep and the Goats represents two bodies of work, The Bovidae: Divine Animals and Out to Pasture, in visual conversation. The work calls attention to the cultural landscapes surrounding domesticated animals. The Bovidae: Divine Animals looks at animals and environments in Kern’s ancestral heritage: Ireland, Germany, Norway, and Iceland. Out to Pasture responds as a meditation on rural America from his home state of Minnesota, USA. Together, these projects offer perspective on the meaning of pastoral in contemporary time. Among Kern’s influences are the landscape painters of the nineteenth century, especially regarding the use of light and composition. About the Author R. J. Kern (b. 1978) is an American photographer whose work explores ideas of home, lineage, and the sense of place. He uses both natural and artificial light to document interactions of people, animals, and cultural landscapes. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. George Slade is a photography historian, writer, consultant, and curator based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lisa Volpe is associate curator of photography at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Stuart Klipper is a renowned American photographer, who for nearly 30 years has made photographs in all 50 states, distilling and crystallizing the defining characteristics of American regions. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. In R. J. Kern’s portrait, the sitter seems to possess wisdom and self-assurance. Maybe it’s the sitter’s slight tilt of the head, a posture of confidence and certainty. Or it could be the determined glare that stares down the camera lens. Perhaps it is the silvered hair, shot through with patches of white. This sign of age suggests it is wisdom born of experience. Or it could be the calm confidence that is conveyed in his unperturbed stillness, though storm clouds swirl in the distance. This goat is poised and wise. Animals have always been a canvas onto which mankind projects emotions or ideas. Kern’s personal examination of his ancestry in Ireland, Germany, Norway, and Iceland resulted in an artistic project in which goats and sheep represent issues of identity and history.(...) Kern’s evocation of nature as a device to understand his own sense of self draws upon historical precedence: the use of animals as metaphor and the pastoral tradition. Yet the artist’s broad concept― his exploration of identity―is firmly grounded in a contemporary context. This tightly knit series of images, which together characterize the author, is common to our age of social media. Kern’s aesthetic, however, emphasizes clarity and projects a warm stillness that is a balm to an overstimulated society. This contrast too―the ties to digital media and the rejection of its characteristics―deepens this pastoral project. Yes, it is a photograph of a goat, but it is also more than that. Just as man’s relationship with the animal world is multifaceted, so too is Kern’s work. – from the introduction by Lisa Volpe
