Page 68 - La Biennale di Venezia issue of World of Art Magazine

contemporary artists in la Biennale di Venezia issue SING TO THE CARNIVAL MOON, 2017 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 30 X 32 CM.
MASQUERADE, 2017 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 30 X 32 CM

ECHO OF THE SEASONS, 2018 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 30 X 96 CM.

AI-WEN WU KRATZ
Lives and works in Chambersburg, PA, United States
www.aiwenwukratzartstudio.com/

On visual art, Ezra Pound said, “Make it new.” That is, we must
make art which bears our own Time Signature. Along with medicine,
engineering and all other fields, art is in a constant quest for discovery.
It is not newness for newness’ sake. Rather, it is to respond to our
intellectual query within. Contemporary art, often, does not deliver
literal images, but invites the viewer to make visible his or her
associations, based on the visual elements presented. As a result,
creativity is multiplied and is contributed by the viewer as well.
I associate painting with writing. For example, about the Amazon River,
a line such as, “This river, a wound on the earth, carved by serpents as
they passed,” has more apprehensive power over me than the seven
thousand words or more in the Wikipedia reporting on the facts of the
river. In writing, choice of words, their combination and order give the
power and conviction in deliverance. I dream of using lines, colors,
planes, forms, shapes and movements to create visual poems. I am
interested in contemporary stage design, choreographic lines in dance
and the marvel of vocal art and operatic lyrics. I grew up in one of the
high-rise apartments in Hong Kong, which ranks as the world’s fourth
in territory population density. The skyward expansion in architecture and the twenty-four-seven city activities had fostered my ability to
cope, a dutiful sense of community wellness, and an appreciation for
higher education. The greatest of all, the lack of ready-made toys in
childhood gave birth to my imagination and creativity.

Ai-Wen Wu Kratz, a native of Hong Kong, works and lives in the United
States. She received a BFA degree in Painting and Mathematics from
Fort Wright College, Spokane, Washington; and a MFA degree from
Cranbrook Academy of Art in Painting and Printmaking, Bloomfield
Hills, Michigan. She is an alumna of Skowhegan School of Painting
and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine; and of New York Studio School
of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, New York, NY. She holds a
Diploma from the Institute For Writers, Madison, CT. Her works are in
collections in Canada, Germany, Bangladesh, Argentina and the U.S.,
including the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri.
Kratz was praised by one reviewer for her ‘wide range of competence’
and ‘standard of excellence.’ Her works embody spirituality,
intellectualism and aesthetics. She has been among the featured
artists in over twenty-five publications.

68 WORLD of ART