With the Cathedrals of Work series, the artist works with interior images of their grandparents’ barn. Like a grand cathedral, these spaces evoke a kind of reverence in the artist.
Signed and numbered by the artist. All Haystack editions come with a Certificate of Authenticity.
“Growing up on a farm in the Midwest instilled in me a strong association between ones capacity to work and ones self-worth. I’ve been concentrating on how the role of work and labor formed my family’s identity, while still referencing my family’s history with the land and it’s agrarian past.”
– Kurt Lightner
About the Artwork
With the Cathedrals of Work series, the artist works with interior images of their grandparents’ barn. Like a grand cathedral, these spaces evoke a kind of reverence in the artist. In stark contrast to the Baroque adornment of a cathedral, a barn is a completely stripped-down, bare-bones, utilitarian structure, exposing its fragility and strength for all to see. Built to house the fruits of a farmer’s labor, barns are markers of the wealth, stability, and prosperity of their owners.
Cathedral Series 2 was printed in collaboration with the artist and Forth Estate at Axelle Editions (a renowned printmaking studio active from 2005 – 2015). Each print was created by silkscreen printing (also known as serigraphy). This method requires stenciling techniques wherein ink is pressed onto paper through deliberately exposed areas of a mesh screen one color at a time.
Curator's Note
Kurt Lightner’s painting practice was deeply influenced by his Midwestern rural upbringing. Generations of his family have been farmers, and he admires both their work ethic and their contribution to society via essential goods like fresh produce. Lightner captures the essence of his grandparent’s barn in his Cathedral Series. The abstracted wooden beams create a cavernous space, with colors dispersed throughout to recall church windows and architecture.
These prints, Cathedrals of Work 1 & 2, contain both the vast, dimly lit spaces created by the raw skeletal structures of the barns, with the added color and light reminiscent of stained-glass windows.
About the Artist
Kurt Lightner (b.1971, Troy, OH) is a painter and sculptor whose studio practice is one that examines his family’s history with farming in the Midwest, particularly as it relates to concepts of work and self-worth. With landscape-based visuals, he conveys the importance of his ancestral environment and the significance of generational knowledge.
