Archana Horsting, On the Fringe of the Field, A Survey of Works 1972-2022

Read a review of the exhibit, Archana Horsting: 50 Years on Square Cylinder.

Kala Art Institute is excited to present the retrospective exhibition Archana Horsting, On the Fringe of the Field, A Survey of Works 1972–2022, featuring prints, drawings, and paintings by Archana Horsting. The show celebrates Archana’s artistic vision and art practice, creativity, and
contributions as an artist and arts leader—building vibrant cultural communities at Kala, in the Bay Area, and beyond.

Archana dedicated close to 50 years to nurturing Kala’s mission of supporting artists as an international residency program rooted in the local community and a forum for ideas. Archana and co-founder Yuzo Nakano created a unique space for artists to share artmaking equipment, exchange ideas, be in dialogue with one another, and experiment with technology, media, and techniques. With their vision and Kala leadership they have had a profound influence on generations of artists and artist communities while steadily making work in their Emeryville studios.

Archana’s studies and art practice include printmaking, sculpture and painting, art history and philosophy. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein especially left a long impression in her creative mind. Her studies overseas and interactions with artists and art communities from around the world have also inspired her artistic endeavors.

Bringing together a lifelong interest in landscape and architecture and artistic practice of bold black mark making, Archana’s most recent series Photo Translations,  explores early black and white photographs taken by master photographers such as Eugène Atget, Manuel Álvarez Bravo and many others. She translates their photographs into her own paintings using paintsticks with a wide range of grays and rich blacks. She changes the scale of the original photographs and focuses on the areas and abstract shapes that the photographer originally may not have intended the viewer to linger on and over. In her statement Archana says “This change in scale encourages viewers to step into the artwork, seeing new aspects of a classic image.”

Like the Photo Translations series, Archana Horsting’s artwork invites viewers to create their own meanings and interpretations in the same way she has encouraged so many artists at Kala to follow their passions and discover or rediscover new directions in their work. Her creative energy has a powerful ripple effect and has touched thousands of artists over the last five decades. It’s an honor to see Archana’s work come together in the gallery for this special exhibition.