First Flying Machine, 30 x 48 inches, Oil on Canvas
The writer Allen Saunders once wrote, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
Artist Ann Krasner wants to emphasize this with her art by capturing the joy of our everyday life through her creations. Krasner believes that the goal of an artist is to express life, the beauty and happiness, as well as the tragedy. As Ann likes to say, “Art simply provides the medium with which to communicate the message.”
Krasner never whispers. She’s bright, she is voluminous and she is ambitious, and her art is a reflection of herself. One look at an Ann Krasner painting or sculpture and the viewer is overwhelmed with unbridled emotions. Some laugh out loud while some are moved to tears. No matter what, they are affected. It is almost impossible to gaze upon a work and not be touched.
The art is a creation with no traces of uniformity or reason. It is innocent and honest in its simplicity, and this is why it is marvelous. Wild distorted figures dancing carefree and dressed in mismatched outfits, buildings rising from multicolored landscapes and bursts of color pouring out from every inch of the canvas.
This is clearly demonstrated in one of her earlier works — “Botanical Swing,” a large canvas depicting a couple dancing on a checkerboard dance floor. Their bodies are distorted with exaggerated limbs, and they are dressed in outfits that can best be described as a fashion faux pas of the highest level. Each character is loosely holding a butterfly net as figures float around them in a rhythmic sort of trance. The art is primitive, yet somewhat comforting, as if to assure all of us that it is OK to be different. The colors don’t match, the outfits conflict, yet through all the chaos and confusion, we are left with a sense of joy, as if to be reminded that we should not take life too seriously.
Ann Krasner never labors on her art. Her distinctive style is instantly recognizable. Like a song in a shower, it just happens. She’s a walking sunflower! Ann always works with basic colors. But let us not forget that Tchaikovsky used only seven notes in his masterpieces. This joy of simplicity is what makes Ann’s art so attractive and unique. The result of all that color and energy is always a crowd of smiling faces at any and all of Ann Krasner’s shows. “I try not to plan my work in advance. What manifests on the canvas is purely in the moment and in this way I know I am being true to my art. The spontaneity of the work is who I am without rules or restrictions. I stay true to myself in this way” says Krasner.
