JOHN HEINTZMAN
Ken Hoffman is an artist, an educator and a mentor who has had an incalculable impact on what it means to make art, to think critically, and to exist in the world he created.
His work makes the present more visible and viable — and at the same time, his art addresses issues like race and class — in the most subtle of ways. He does this with vulnerability and always with humor and defends the disenfranchised to the end.
When examining his personified animal portraits that enkindle former musicians and even the common man or woman, the viewer is privy to Hoffman’s understanding of the human spirit. History may distort the truth and time, but his work is brutally honest and filled with emotion; he is always conscious of the need to address what’s wrong with society and our culture.
As an educator, Ken Hoffman offered himself unselfishly to his students, who grew and matured as he shared his own inspirations or those he found in the classroom, the gallery, the museum or even when fishing. Everything piques his interest: the simplest shape from a collage to discarded refuse, all become elements that bring about unique meaning and textures to his paintings and collages.
Ken Hoffman has recently been working on a corpus of collages.
For decades he recycled billboard paper and vinyl as apparel for his models. “Bird Dog Woman” is proudly clad in a bustier that would have made Madonna blush. He incorporated a work glove and plastic toy into his paintings for all of us to wonder, to question or even to laugh. There is always joy in his work. We live with “Laughing Dog” a large painting with a dog’s head slightly tilted upward and a bellowing open mouth — the simplest glance or occasional glimpse, causes one to smile daily.
His deft ability to draw is uncanny. Often we would see a cartoon on his canvas drawn in fluid lines of charcoal. The urge to exclaim, “Stop!” never occurred, because it would have meant we disrupted the creative genius that saw much more through the artist’s mind’s eye than we ever could.
Hoffman also found an affinity for clay, and his ceramics have rooted themselves in a Voulkas-like demeanor — sometimes rough, sometimes twisted, but always with vigor from the artist’s hands. “Sweetie Pie” is a strong, somewhat robust, feminine form. Multiple firings and layers of glazes give her a great patina and a faceted history, but mostly, she has strength in stature and a commanding presence. So typical, this is the life he gives to his work and to his community.
Even though collage has been a part of his painting practice, he recently has focused on building a corpus of collages — showing his ability to fully dominate layering that has the viewer stopping in their tracks. Images ripped from fashion magazines to old drawings that did not match his expectations demonstrate how in tune he is with the state of culture, society and politics in contemporary times.
Ken Hoffman can incorporate a work glove and plastic toy into his paintings for all of us to wonder, to question or even to laugh.
His current exhibition at Bradley University in the Hartmann Gallery features more than two dozen recently created collages. Collectively they demonstrate his active — if not bordering on frenetic — creative process. Matched, mirrored and twinned, these collages draw the viewer in for a closer examination with each image. Sometimes there is joy, sometimes puzzlement of how masterfully he combined elements. As in his paintings, the surfaces are disrupted with the inclusion of unexpected objects. In two works he has included that mystery glove that makes them even more curious.
This body of work stands as a testament that Ken Hoffman is a master at so many mediums — and in each he shares his passion and determination to satisfy the viewers’ visual trek through the gallery. “Collages” is on display though Nov. 3 at Hartmann Gallery on the campus of Bradley University.
Hoffman also has an exhibit scheduled to open in September at the Galesburg Community Arts Center. This exhibition includes his monumental works, including an impressive mural. For more information on the exhibition in Galesburg,
go to the Galesburg Community Arts Center site.