Deciphering Stratums: A View Beyond the Surface--Works by Moritz Kellerman and Katiana Jarbath Smith

Self-reflection and awareness are heightened in our current times. Now more than ever, people are understanding that seeing others is not a simple matter of seeing color or gender or any other visual descriptor, but of taking the time to see other’s experiences. People are more than their surface. The whole person is the complex culmination of layers of lived experiences. Paintings, a culmination of layers, are symbolic of this complexity. Further, how does individual history influence perspectives and interpretations about others or major events in society? This two-person exhibition will feature two-dimensional paintings by Nicaragua-born Jewish American painter, Moritz Kellerman and first-generation Haitian American painter, Katiana Jarbath- Smith. Moritz’s abstract pieces of stratums of color invite viewers to question their thoughts and feelings provoked by the title of the artwork. What colors beneath the surface are seen? How did the colors and mediums interact with each other to form what is seen? Katiana’s pieces will invite viewers to question the lived experience of its subject. What experiences of the subject can be seen in the painting? How do the colors and composition help to reveal those experiences?  Each pairing of the artists’ works will invite viewers to interpret the history of a people, social constructs and even nations. What aspect(s) of the nation’s history is presented? What are the layers that have led to that history? How might the artists’ heritages have influenced their perspective of that history? How might the viewer’s history influence their perspective of that history? In inviting viewers to delve beyond the surface of each piece, the artists aim to remind viewers of the value of exploring the complexity of individual and collective history. Venue: Rehoboth Art League.