(Corrected)
Five strong guys looking at you when you’re having your morning latte are hard to ignore. After a couple of weeks they began to feel like family – my Dad, Uncle Rudy, my brother. What I noticed was the incredible definition of character the artist Kai Klaassen has managed to convey with her brushwork. You don’t see much impressionism these days unless you happen to fall into SFMOMA, and even then there’s not much around, which, I suspect, is the reason why these large portraits of men acted like magnets.
Over sized, they would be at home hanging out with the impressionists, but do fine at Mission Pie.
Kai Klaassen, an artist who has lived in San Francisco for nearly 30 years has worked mostly with sculpture and form, and turned to painting only recently. A charming, gregarious woman of around 50, she has a way of sizing up a guy. “Hmmn”, she said after introductions were exchanged. “I think I might like to paint you.”
The portraits are all people who interact with the physical world, men who use their hands: a carpenter, rancher, mechanic, artist, and architect, one of whom she is married to.
” The stories and activities of people who work and play outdoors have always interested me; has been a thread in my life since youth,” she said. “My current work is loosely organized around how people interact with the physical world both on a personal and societal level. This series, “Men I Know” draws attention to members of both rural and urban community who work with their hands.”
The power of her brushwork draws us into the game. After telling us the occupations Klaassen puts the burden on the viewer to fill in the blanks and construct their stories. We know who the mechanic is – the sweetly smiling man in blue with the “obil” patch on his coveralls. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the letter “M” is missing.
The others are an artist, architect, rancher and the carpenter.
Klaassen’s palate is reminiscent of the Southwest School – warm oranges and blue, burnt umber combined with feeling for soft lighting. But the outstanding feature is her minimalist brushwork through which she has absolute masterly control that she uses to draw out the character of her models. These men are all strong, each in their own individual way. Catching character is Klaassen’s gift. There is something very compelling about the portraits that is inescapable and that shouts – this is the work of a mature artist!
If you enjoy art and pie get thee down to Mission Pie, corner of Mission and 25th street for some impressive art and don’t miss Krysta’s own pear-rasberry pie—art of another genre.
Correction, June 15, 2008
(This piece listed the artist as a resident of the East Bay, but she has lived in the Mission District for nearly 30 years. Also her name was misspelled. Our apologies for the errors.)
too bad the artist did not capture the true esseence of the mission district..not one latino
I really want to know which careers go with which guys. Ack!!! I will stop by Mission Pie trying to figure it out.