Floating lines, crisp intersecting circles and overlapping shapes create a certain buoyancy and joy in Kara Wilson’s art. Her exhibit “Identity” is now on view through April 25 at The Center for the Digital Arts Gallery at SUNY Westchester Peekskill.
Because Wilson has been a professional graphic designer for over 20 years, digital tools are key to composing her silkscreens.
“In the perspective of graphic design, I benefit from doing digital sketches first,” Wilson explains. “I can figure it all out first as I see it in my brain and from real life.”
This intriguing exhibit delightfully indulges our imagination in a multitude of ways.
Abstract images are titled with a person’s first name, engaging us to conjure up a sense of who the person is.
In her artist statement Wilson further explains her approach: “The people who play leading roles in our lives often get characterized or molded in ways we want them to fit… We create a version of how we want to remember and identify them.”
In “Mike,” a cascade of pink dots sweep over an architectural landscape of multicolored geometric shapes as colors quietly shift from light to dark. Based on Wilson’s friend Mike, the work is a based on his nature.
“There were elements from ideas I had that were based on Mike’s personality,” says Wilson. “One element was that Mike likes the actor Bradley Cooper, another was that they both come from Philadelphia. The work is a blend of personality traits with visions I already had.”
Wilson’s social commentary is notable in her three-part triptych “The Pickle Pieces,” which reflects how print newspapers are vanishing, especially local papers. According to the State of Local News Project, since 2005 over 3,200 print newspapers have disappeared at a rate of more than two per week nationwide. Today fewer than 5,600 newspapers remain, 80% of which are weeklies in the U.S.
Here in northern Westchester, River Journal North (RJN) ended its print edition in November 2024, and now publishes in this digital magazine format. [Editor’s Note: RJN sister publication River Journal continues to publish and mail a print edition every month.]
The Examiner stopped printing its weekly editions in January 2025, and maintains an e-newsletter presence.
“I was saddened when the River Journal North terminated their print editions,” says Wilson, who is a Croton-on-Hudson resident. “It was the catalyst for that piece. Since my career has been working in print media design, it’s disheartening to see the deterioration of print media.”
The large center piece of “The Pickle Pieces” seems to be fading before our eyes. The near blank, colorless front page of a newspaper has no text. Blurred textures are in small, steely boxes lining the top of the silkscreened page. Under that is a large square filled with big white Ben-Day dots, a reference to an 1879 printing technique invented by American newspaper publisher Benjamin Day and used in newspaper images. The dots are of a bygone printing era, not unlike today’s printed newspaper.
Under the dots are thinning lines alluding to disappearing text; some seem to fade out altogether. The surprise is the lime green plastic pickle protruding at top center. Originally Wilson used an actual pickle that, over time, shriveled and dripped onto the newsprint. The vinegary stain is now integral to the piece equating with the exiting world of newsprint.
“The pickle is known to shrink and shrivel up,” Wilson explains. “To me it’s a sign of aging. As baby boomers and Gen X age, so does the print media.”
On either side of the main page are small, simple shapes set in oval frames like bookends to the main piece. The one on the left is “Princess Pickles – Outie” and the one on the right is “Princess Pickles – Innie,” each mirror images of themselves. Wilson suggests that both are connections to her own self.
“These are self-portraits,” she explains. “On the left is the ‘innie’ me, which represents a home body, on the right is the ‘outtie,’ which is the party girl.” In essence, Wilson poses as a witness to the loss of news print while moving on with her life, much like we all have done.
The piece “Major Motoko Kusanagi” is based on the lead character in “Ghost in the Shell,” a 1995 adult Japanese-animated tech noir cyberpunk action thriller film. We see blank red eyes peering at us from an owl-like face. The robotic figure is rendered in clean-cut lines and curves that push the face forward from a flat background. Wilson says she wanted to redo her character differently.
“She’s a cyborg robot and very voluptuous. But my takeaway of her as an owl is something different than how most people see her. It’s an homage to a favorite female character in the movie.”
All 32 silkscreens in the exhibit are absorbing and appealing because of how they hold our gaze. “Identity” is well worth a visit. The show runs until April 25, 2025.
The Center for the Digital Arts Gallery
Peekskill Extension of SUNY Westchester
27 N Division St., Peekskill, NY 10566
Monday through Thursday 8:00 am through 9:00 pm
Friday 8:00 am through 4:30 pm
Saturday 8:30 am through 4:30 pm
914-606-7300
www.karawilsonart.com or @karawilsonart.
