wall space gallery | the flat file

Karen Strom is one of a pair of Stroms. Her husband, Stephen is a photographer as well. Both Stroms are accomplished scientists, who have now focused on creative endeavors. Stephen’s work, abstract large scale landscapes, was profiled earlier this month as part of the Lishui Festival. Karen’s work is significantly different than Stephen’s in her process, eye and creative focus. Her composited works create environments, visions and scenes that are often miles apart. Her blending of textures creates what she calls Architectonics.

Here is more about her process -

“The world I see is composed of many different layers, scales and moments. When making an image, I explore the relationships between multiple facets of the world, integrating them into a single vision in an attempt to mimic the manner in which the mind forms composite impressions from the array of images that are constantly impinging upon you. While the resulting images often evoke disparate, even conflicting, responses, they ultimately capture a more complete impression of a landscape or object: details are synthesized into broader views; interiors integrated into exterior views. It is the ambiguity of my images, the feelings evoked by differing scales, perspectives and viewpoints, that together work to yield an integrated image of a landscape. It is these visions that I then attempt to translate into a single image, hoping to evoke similar emotional and intellectual responses in the viewer. “