Her sixth for the Black Bucket Essays, Professor Kristen Kovak‘s most recent essay, “Comparing for Critical Distance,” focuses on the dynamic relationship between artist and audience.
“Even if I am not physically present,” she writes, “the artwork asserts that a mind perceived in a certain way. The presence of an audience augments the number of individual interpretations. By placing my work in front of others, I am also reminded that my own perception is limited. My artworks become tangible records of my perceptual confusion and evidence of the gaps in my understanding. Exhibiting is an invitation to consider alternative viewpoints and a statement about the multiplicity of perspectives always present, but often ignored.”