The canary code series
This series of images is based on the artist's inspirational journey to four Canary Islands: Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma, and Lanzarote. The essence of these four Canary Islands is the invisible connection, the commonality, the universal foundation, the Canary Code.
The Canary Code is a play on words, a neologism derived from the term "binary code." The artist has translated and abstracted a wide variety of natural codes, analogous to man-made barcodes, into lines. The result is a series of paintings and sculptures that convey her visual experiences in a series-specific manner, always in search of abstraction, within the tension between minimalist simplification and informational richness. The line codes serve as abstract networks, as a representation of movement, and as a symbol of the search for explanation, for the essence of all the optical wonders. They were her constant companions on her journey through the islands.
She drew inspiration from the jumble of omnipresent pine needles and cactus spines, from the seemingly arrhythmic, chaotic repetition of the surf and gusts of wind, the play of light on the water's surface, the indefinable tangle of the banyan trees' aerial roots, from the colored layers in the rocks, from the organic patterns in the lava flows. Layers of rock contain geological strata millions of years old and present them in linear, color-coordinated codes.
The artist reflects contrasts in color and geometric value in her paintings, such as the geometric randomness of the pine needles in color contrast to the surrounding pyroclastic ash.
The trade wind is the origin of all codes in this series, the driving force, the source, the central theme. It is palpable, leaves its mark, yet remains invisible. Making it and its movement visible and tangible, abstracting it, was both a challenge and a motivation. The analogy between wind and lava flows is fascinating, the way they move seemingly effortlessly and unimpeded through the landscape. Its seemingly random code of rhythm and intensity, a natural mystery, gains presence in the works through its very arbitrariness.
The Canary Code --- An abstract journey into our perception, an explanatory approach to the inexplicable.
nalu series
In Hawaiian, Nalu means wave. This wave sets the reflection on the water's surface in motion, distorting it and thus abstracting the mirrored reality. This series of works is the result of an inspirational journey the artist undertook on three Hawaiian islands: Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island. The fascination of experiencing, in a single day, towering volcanoes, lush rainforest, arid drylands, and the ocean—both above and below the surface—provided the impetus for this series. Each individual highlight, viewed in isolation, shines with an outward monotony yet an inner diversity. Carole Kohler translates the multifaceted Hawaiian reality into abstract elements and reflects this new, abstract reality against the illusion of a figurative water surface. In the Nalu series, she abstracts the real only to abstract it again in a figurative manner the next moment. In her abstract works, the artist expands purely visual impressions through the expressive rendering of the invisible, such as atmosphere, mood, and the integration of movement and dynamics. Experienced colors and forms do not appear unfiltered in the works, but are abstracted and translated expressionistically. Through reflection, she aims to capture a fleeting moment, a thought that captivated her on her journey of inspiration, only to release it—like a wave—and make room for new moments. Moving water allows one to find peace and relive past impressions. In her works, the artist shifts perspective, showing and reflecting her island experiences from the sea, as if from an outsider's point of view.
opposites series
stage series
On her path towards absolute abstraction, the artist has created a new milestone with the "Stage" series. Increasing reduction is a key element of the works in this series, which formally resemble a stage in an endless auditorium, where movement, sound, etc., are presented. It is a reduction that allows and permits expansion.
