The artist Kardif

Art is not often covered on Geeks Are Sexy.

At least not fine art.  Before I open myself up for "what is fine art?" and other pretentious debates, allow me to get to the subject of today's post.

My daily email from GAS featured an entry about artist Kathy Tardif, or "Kardif" as she signs her canvases.  Tardif is a Canadian painter, so her website in that link is in both English and French.  Like many artists, Tardif says in her personal statement that she creates art because she has to.

"My painting is a blend of figurative and abstract art and I compose without boundaries; embracing the unexpected and the accidental. This improvised approach allows me to explore beyond reality within imaginary universes of my own. I surrender to the feeling; the movement; the intuition and inspiration flows from the colours emerging on the canvas."

Reinventing My Life, the painting that accompanied the GAS entry and the one that I've included above, was immediately arresting.  I don't know if it was the title being suggestive given my current state of affairs or what, but the piece really spoke to me.  "Figurative and abstract art" is indeed the best description for "Kardif's" work.  I would study the piece on my computer and then walk away for a while.  Upon returning to it, I always had a new interpretation of the artist's intent.

Sometimes I see a forest with a waterfall in its center.  Other times I see a New England village nestled amidst dense trees with leaves just turning for the fall.  One street runs through the town.  The author of the GAS entry said the painting at times looked like a ruined city of the past.  I hadn't considered that take on it, but I can see where he's coming from.  I am also most intrigued by the way Tardif incorporates text into a painting.  The text is there in a sort of script form, but it is not entirely legible.  Like garbled signals through a radio static of beautiful noise.

The portfolio gallery on Tardif's website is no less impressive than Reinventing My Life.   Une page de ma vie is another favorite of mine.  The free-floating cubes above a desolate roadway...or at least that's how I see it.  The dark shades creeping in from peripheries, symbolizing how uncertain our path ahead of us is and how even the search for truth is a mysterious and undetermined venture.  Again, that's how I see it.

And that is the beauty of Kardif and much of great art.  You are free to interpret.
 

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