Karen Yank Exhibit, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

KAREN YANK

My life and my work are synonymous. My work is a direct expression of my life and my inspirations. I create art because it is the closest expression of life that I have found. I start each piece through meditation, and I create from waking inspiration. My inspirations are informed by the idyllic landscape of the San Pedro Mountains, where I live, and represent the emotional impact one feels when in the natural setting. Personal relationships also weigh heavily in my content. The focus of my work is on non-verbal communication or the emotional nuances between words. I bring each sculpture to a level of angst. It is through this angst that I solve certain aesthetic issues.

I work primarily in mixed metals. I strive to reveal an organic nature with a sense of history in a material which is usually cold and industrial. Every weld and grind mark is an intentional design. I love to completely mesh different metals together reflecting a beauty that can only found in the organic.

Over a span of approximately ten years, I have been fortunate to have created over twenty public sculptures in New Mexico alone. I enjoy working closely with the public in a collaborative fashion to bring together their needs and my vision creating a work that truly meets the concerns of all involved. I recently finished my largest scale project to date. One can find five hundred feet of my sculpture installed along the two pedestrian bridges on the east and west sides of the I-40/Coors Freeway Interchange in Albuquerque. Also, I have just installed two 16-foot free-standing sculptures in the interchange landscape itself. I am pleased to report that the State, the City, and the entire interchange project and specifically the aesthetics have won 10 national awards to date.