JONATHAN GOODMAN: Art In America: Karen Gunderson at Donahue/Sosinski: July 1999

Karen Gunderson’s large black-on-black oils of five kings- Christian X of Denmark, David of Israel, Louis XIV of France, Alfred the Great of England and Boris III of Bulgaria- commemorate leaders especially known for their social awareness.  Each of Gunderson’s portraits describes a man who, according to catalogue essayist Donald Kuspit, was “an authentically courageous hero- a true role model in bleak times.”  Her project carries with it an implicit criticism; we surmise that her choice of these men suggest a dissatisfaction with current leaders.

Gunderson has chosen to paint her memorials entirely in black, a color with funeral connotations but one which can take on a heightened, abstractly dramatic intensity.  It also has a strong place in modern and contemporary art- one thinks of the all-black paintings of Ad Reinhardt, or of Minimalist sculpture.  Gunderson uses black, however, not for morbid or theoretical associations but to intensify feeling.  The absence of hue dramatized her thematic materials.

She has been able to use black alone by varying the application of paint; the images catch and reflect light, creating nuance and contrast within the single color.