Karin Wagner-Coron: from Above

The first thing hits you at Karin Wagner Coron’s new show is how BIG the paintings are.  As a visitor to the show, you are not just looking at paintings, you are sharing space with them.  The pieces possess the space they inhabit.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Wagner Coron about her experience leading up to this group of paintings. Read on:

Q.  Your idea for your new show at WSG is so perfect! You paint with a sense of vastness to begin with…I’m curious how you came up with the idea for going up into an airplane to do research for the paintings.

A. I got tired of sitting in a car, or standing somewhere with such a limited view.  I always want to see more!  Someone also recommended that I look at Wayne Thiebaud paintings of landscape.  He did a series from the air,  and I was totally inspired!  It was then that I understood that I needed that challenge.

Q.  Did going up in an airplane, with the intent of making paintings based on what you saw, allow you to notice new things about color?

A. Yes, I knew I wanted to see rivers and bodies of water adjacent to patterns of agriculture.  I was also looking for the subtle changes of blues/greens/violets in large bodies of water.

Q.  You already painted large, but some of these paintings are really enormous.  (Insert size range here)  what new challenges did the scale change present  for you?  In approach? Tools? Transport?

A.  I was surprised at how much longer it took me to prepare the canvases.  They don’t fit in my van, so I had to use a pickup to transport.  They are 60″ x 72″.  I used a ladder to paint the tall ones.  I also stand on my tables in my studio.  I love working big…. The secret is having the right size paint brush.  My larger ones don’t have as much paint build-up as usual.  If I had more time I would have built up the texture of larger pieces.

Q.  The paintings are so large that they start to fill your periphery when you are looking them – it’s disorienting in the most wonderful way.  In a sense,  they start to wrap themselves around you, as the viewer, transporting you.
What are your thoughts about this?

A.  My intention for this show was to make a statement about scale.   I wanted the viewer to have the experience of how vast our world is.

Q.  Can you tell us about little about your blue combinations and which blues are your favorite to use?
A.  Ah… cerulean, ultramarine, turquoise,  and believe it or not…yellow and red to tone them down and grey them up a bit.  I also use lots of white.

<p”>Q. The Lake St. Clair paintings took my breath away and immediately took me to the top of the Blue Water Bridge the first time I crossed it.   Do you remember the first time you saw water like that or the first time you crossed that bridge?  Did you think you would be an artist then?

A.  I had never seen Lake St Clair until my flight!  I didn’t know it was so huge and that the Canadian side was so rural and wild!  Such a contrast to the States side in that area.  Although they were both equally beautiful.