ART: Basking in the Islands of Kindness with Katharina Fengler

Islands of Kindness 32, 2010, ink on paper

Working out of Zurich, Switzerland, German artist Katharina Fengler brings us into the tropics with her photography and works in ink. Her Island of Kindness series draws on a retro Carribean or Venice beach color palette to create an inkblot archipelago reminiscent of color changing Surf Style windbreakers and acid wash jeans. Her photography too–palm trees, friends drinking on beach chairs, dolphin flying over a bright cerulean pool–invokes a vacation aesthetic so pleasant that it makes you feel bad about not being wherever it is that’s her muse.

Islands of Kindness 26, 2010, ink on paper

Islands of Kindness 27, 2010, ink on paper

Islands of Kindness 29, 2010, ink on paper

Palme, 2006, digital photograph

1995, 2008, wallpaper on wall

The real accomplishment in Katharina Fengler’s work is a knack for color development that really brings you into the tone of the piece. Sucks you in, gets you wet, pours you a rum drink with an umbrella straw, and invites you to kick up your high tops and enjoy.

Untitled, 2008, photograph

By Shawn Johnson