Artist Reception for Edificational, an art show by Kerstin Torgersen

Start: May 10, 2014, 10 p.m.

End: May 12, 2014, midnight

Edificational is a series of surreal portrait paintings depicting imaginary, metaphorical

creatures. The series title is a humorous combination of the words “edification” and “fictional,” and

suggests that the creatures are somehow being improved intellectually or ethically in their fictional

environments. While largely exaggerated and generally grotesque I strive to paint my creatures in a way

that communicates and expresses human foibles, dilemmas, and emotions. Each creature is a physical

and emotional caricature of someone I have known and are invented from combining various parts of

animals with unusual or bizarre anatomy, such as the star-nosed mole or the trunk of an elephant. They

are then painted with intricate textures and heightened color in a manner similar to the fruit, vegetable

and found object portraits by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, a 16th

by the creations of The Jim Henson Company’s Creature Shop and the puppets they created for movies

like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.