Ai-Wen Wu Kratz, originally from Hong Kong, works and lives in the U.S.
She received a BFA degree in Painting and Mathematics from Fort Wright College, Spokane, Washington; and a MFA degree in Painting and Printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She is an alumna of Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine; and of New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, New York, NY. She holds a Diploma, “Breaking Into Print” from Institute For Writers, Madison, CT. Kratz was praised by critics for her ‘wide range of competence’ and ‘standard of excellence.’ She is recognized for her remarkable command with lines in her drawings. In addition to the U.S., she had Solo Exhibitions in Marseille, Munich, Blackheath (London), Cairo and Vienna. Her works are in collections in Canada, Germany, Bangladesh, Argentina and the U.S., including the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
I am interested in the spiritual and intellectual potentials in colors, lines, shapes, forms and movements. For example, about the Amazon River, a line such as, “This river, a wound on the earth, carved by serpents as they passed” has more apprehensive power over me than the seven thousand words or more in the Wikipedia reporting the facts of the river. In writing, words, their combination and order can relate a power and conviction to the reader. In the same way, the aim of my lines, colors, planes, forms, shapes and movements thereof, is to achieve such a magical conveyance to the viewer, not merely the association or representation.
To the public, I wish to say: Come to us, the visual artists, dancers, poets, writers, playwrights, musicians and story tellers. Together, we’ll form a shade to shelter you from the heat and weariness of life. Together, in this sanctuary, we shall hear the birds’ happy mating, share the breeze of renewal, and bathe in the warmth of the fragrant earth.
