In The Mood
2008
Digital Print                                       

Karin Kuhlmann                              
Residence: Verl, Germany 
Birthplace: Wiedenbrueck, Germany

Dipping into the fractal space means to enter absolutely new and unknown territories…and, I’m the conqueror. Although, its creation is bounded to strict mathematical rules, the results are always very inspiring, and they are—because I’m the one who chose the forms, the details, and the colours, of each fractal—also an expression of myself.

Between 1996 and 2008, I extended my activities on three fields:

1. Graphic work with my own photos

Digitally edited photo-collages of flowers and landscapes, frequently completed with painting, expressing the connection between the perceptible picture and imagination. Most of them have been awarded recognition in Corel World Design Contests between 1999–98.

2. Work with 3D programs

3D illustrations and landscapes in a surrealistic manner, also digitally edited and supplemented with painting

3. Experimental and abstract works

Since beginning to use the computer as a personal artistic tool in 1996, I tended more and more towards abstraction. Especially games with geometric forms, and the research into the visual and emotional possibilities of several graphic methods, are of great interest for me, e.g., to work with fractals that are always the visualized solution of a complex mathematical problem—but viewed in isolation of mathematical questions and contents, they are graphic patterns, as a snapshot of the infinity.

Fractals are gometric figures like rectangles, circles, and squares, but they have special properties, that those figures do not have. One of the distinguishing features of fractals is the self-similarity; this means that reduced versions of the fractal appear throughout a fractal pattern. Most fractals are infinitely detailed, so you can zoom in closer and closer to see more details. As you zoom, you will see the same pattern recurring.

Born in 1948 in Wiedenbrueck, I’m now living and wrking in Verl, Germany.

After leaving school in 1964, I had a professional education as a photographer and graphic designer. At first, I was an employee of Bertelsmann publishing house, and worked some years in the publicity department of the Nobila factory, a furniture and kitchens producer. Since 1976, I have been working as a freelancer for several publicity agencies and advertising departments, and shaped every kind of publicity publicity resources, like prospects, mailings, advertisements, and product designs. As an expample, I cared for a club-journal for Radio Télé Luxemburg [RTL] for several years.

In 1996, I discovered the computer [that had previously been only a working tool] as my personal artistic medium, and gained the necessary knowledge for it in a self-taught manner.

2010
‘Electric Paint: The Computer as 21st Century Canvas’, Group Exhibition [Curated by Andy McGivern], Lakeview Museum of Arts & Sciences, Peoria, Illinois, United States

2008
‘Naestved International Exhibition of Contemporary Mini Square Prints’ [Curated by Torben Soeborg], grafisk vaerksted\NAESTVED The Print Studio, Roennebaeksholm Arts & Culture Center, Naestved, Denmark
‘Electric Paint: The Computer as 21st Century Canvas’, Group Exhibition [Curated by Andy McGivern], MacNider Art Museum, Mason City, Iowa, United States
International Digital Art Show, Inaugural Exhibition, Gallery of the Museum of Computer Art, Brooklyn, New York, United States
‘Variety of Digital Art 2008’, Juried Group Exhibition, Kunstlege Hohenegg, Westallgäu, Germany
‘CeC & CaC 2008’, 
Retrospective of Select Digital-Still-Imaging Artists 
from The IDEA series of CD-Gazettes [2000-2005; Curated by Shankar Barua], Gandhi-King Plaza, New Dehli, India

2007
Digital Long Island New Media Festival, Invitational & Digital Media Exhibition [Curated by Laurence Gartel], Port Jefferson Village Center, New York, New York, United States
‘CGIV’, 4th International Conference of Computer Graphics, Imaging & Visualization, Group Exhibitio [Curated by Dr. Anna Ursyn], Bangkok, Thailand
‘iV07’, 11th International Conference of Information Visualisation, Group Exhibition [Curated by Dr. Anna Ursyn], Zurich, Switzerland
‘M.I.A.D. Venado Tuerto 2006’, La Muestra Internacional de Arte Digital de Venado Tuerto [MIAD], Group Exhibition [Curated by Oscar Poliotto], Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Rosa Galisteo de Rodríguez, Santa Fé, Argentina