In the spot light
The Story Behind, The Trees that Made Me
"...There was a time where people used the resources from the landscape to create shelter. The relationship between a building and its landscape has always been a fascinating topic of interest to me..."
Koolman has always had a great interest in Architecture and the built environment. Trained as a student of architectural design, old homes have been a topic of much study for the young artist as captured in the piece, "The Trees that Made Me". The piece documents a struggle between nature and the built environment.
"...It's a before and after... "
...Turning back the clock and looking at the piece upside down is like looking into the past of what the land was like before humanity's impact on the environment...
"...Right side up, an old Victorian weathered by time like this one is a message about how nature endures and reclaims the land..."
The work ventures to describe a symbiotic relationship between the built environment and the natural world, a plane where nature and humanity work together. Locally harvested materials provide a dwelling and with time become reclaimed by the environment.
"It's a little more complicated than that," says Koolman, but it is essentially a metaphor that speaks of the give and take between humanity and the environment.
So the next time you see that old building on the side of the road, it might be just nature reclaiming it's past.
Ruse in the Night
"...A rustling in the wind. A trap has been set and the prize is out there in the night..."
The piece utilizes organic tree and foliage forms to paint an abstraction of a rabbit. The minimal use of color is a mechanism that establishes a focal point to the piece. The paint appearing to drip off the carrot is a way to converge both the concept of the ruse and technique of utilizing color to outline the focal point.
Color is more subtly used in the darker crimson vines that compose the tree rabbit.
The moments of the red hue establish to the viewer that this is a living breathing animal and susceptible to the dangers of the wild.
"...The eyes tell the viewer a lot about the character, both individually and together they have a story to tell..."
Each eye of the tree rabbit considers one aspect of the situation. The upper left eye is the desire take the bated carrot and the lower right eye is suspicious of the carrot and realizes something is not right here. Looking at both eyes together, the viewer might get the sense of fear and anguish as to what the cost of taking the carrot might be...
in the spot light
A Closer Look At, Castle Doom and the Unicorn
"...A fantasy castle by the sea, a unicorn frightened by a crashing wave, ocean meeting the sky in the distance...
...Scenes in fantastical stories, art, media, and video games have a particular allure and something that intrigues me..."
The fantasy genre in "Castle Doom and the Unicorn" uses elements of the castle and spire to accentuate the overwhelming and overbearing nature of this structure.
"...The winged unicorn was a special moment that was essentially a relatable character to the audience. The fear and uncertainty of the unicorn, startled by the surge of water and the ominous nature of the castle really conveys to the audience the gravity of what sinister things might lurk in castle doom..."
"...The castle spikes along the top of the piece soar so high in the sky; it's as if they are tearing at the skyline and as if the sky was torn with a red and orange glow in the center..."
The piece utilizes atmospheric elements. The rainbow glitter of wetness at the unicorns hooves, The cream highlights along the castle walls, the wafting of the cirrus clouds in the sky; These elements are the fabric that allows the castle and unicorn to share the same canvas.
In the Spot Light
Runaway from Unicorn City
"...Color, lots of color..."
"...Sometimes the coldest times of the year; when the trees are bare and snow is on the ground, is the best time to make really colorful pieces..."
To be honest, its art that satisfies a need for more vibrant times of the year. But the runaway is more than just a change of scenery, it is the story of an emerald unicorn escaping from the hands of a dystopian society controlled by horses.
"...The emerald unicorn riding a wave to new lands..."
Developing this piece, the working story emerged from a unicorn breaking away from its existing social hierarchy and taking a chance on a different pace, for instance, the immediate need to follow the movement of the wave and outrun the horses on the watercraft.
"...going with the flow seems to be a recurring theme in a lot of my pieces and a free-spirited unicorn on a surfboard seems to be the embodiment of this for me..."
This piece was sort of the jumping off point for some of the other unicorn pieces; "Guardian of the Shimmering Canyons," and "Unicorns Live on the Edge"; Art that celebrates the free spirit in us all.