Beth Korth
Shift in Fate, Callous Hands Stitch Up A Calloused Hand; To Alter and Shift What Might Have Been, Now Scratched Out, acrylic and pastel on paper, 18” x 24”, 2023
A Kind Hello: Passing Through- In Stampede of Chatter, Clamor, and Romp- Wrap Up- See You Around, acrylic and pastel on paper panels, 2’x5’, 2019 and detail
Flame Strike and Torn Flowers- Both Doomed from the Very Moment of Appreciation- A Quick Loud Sound Followed by Aching Nothing acrylic and pastel on wooden round, 3’ diameter, 2023
A Weighted Burden Barks Out- Sound Carried and Thrust into Empathetic Heads Like A Stuck Marble and Ricochet into Boulders That Must Tumble Out and Roll to A Quiet Sit- Stewing- Still Like A Dying Tooth in A Now Empty Mouth, acrylic and pastel on butcher paper roll, 2’ x 80’, 2023
A Weighted Burden Barks Out… Details
Wild Dog, acrylic and pastel on panel, 8”x8”, 2023
ARTIST STATEMENT
Human relationships are a unique dynamic in which people find themselves as a composite of stories, experiences, and games we all know on some level. Digging deeper into my experiences with others, I find our stories go beyond a plain exterior into deep subsurface exploration.
My work consists of multi-media processes that negotiate levels of composited imagery and iconography. In complex compositions, I morph the people in my life and their stories into familiar Western animal metaphors, giving them free rein to lure and flesh out their struggles and frustrations with one another. I give my characters personal agency beyond their traditional trope to tackle and unravel moments as simply or dynamically as necessary in open color field environments – to fully embody my whole experience in that moment with a person or place. With the aid of chimera conduit bodies, bright playful colors, cultural iconography, and layering of textures and marks, these interactions allow a dialog to emerge with the viewers by inviting their own experiences with personal relationships.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Beth Korth grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She received her BFA from the University of Wyoming in 2013 and her MFA from the University of Montana in 2016. Korth is the art education and visitor center manager at Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, Montana. Korth recently completed an artist-in-residence at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, culminating with the painting, A Weighted Burden Barks Out... She currently lives in Roberts, MT with her family.
Korth Emerging Artist Black Foot Valley
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