A Description and Interpretation of the work of Katinka Bock

Katinka Bock works primarily with raw, earth based materials such as clay, wood, rock and various metals. Her work is usually used in conjunction with the previously existing structure around the pieces. She even seems to sometimes not build a piece until she knows the space it will be in. Her work is simple in concept, and she does not allow her own words speak much to any interpretation of the work. She only speaks to the process, materials and context of the work. For many of the pieces, the clay ones especially, Katinka relied on the effect that time and the environment might have on the materials. For some of the pieces, their ultimate state was one that could not be predicted because the weather could not be predicted. 

One piece particularly of note is the slab of flat, rectangular clay that was placed on the stairs outside of on of her shows. This slab of clay was victim to various weather elements and because of that, was cracked, dried up and had thoroughly departed its original shape. Once this piece had been affected to Katinka’s liking, she then took the slab, broke it up and recast it in the kiln. This generated multiple pieces of discolored and oddly shaped bits. That was the final stage for the piece. It is with this piece that it obvious that at any point in the process, the piece can be experience as a finished piece in its own way. 

Katinka often references the force of gravity in her work. As an element that every artist is subject to whether they acknowledge it or not, gravity has a powerful and unavoidable effect. This is particularly obvious in Katinka’s piece where she folds up wet clay and drops it from a point relatively high off of the ground. However that shape is transformed by the collision with the ground and the effect of gravity, is how it remains. She casts those forms and accepts them as they are. One of the pieces relied entirely on the effects of the environment in order to be complete, with almost no input from the artist aside from the concept and the idea. For this sculpture she folded a wet piece of clay that was roughly the length of a standard car lane, and placed it across a high traffic lane and allowed cars to drive over it. After that, she saw the piece of be complete. So she cast it, and called it done.

Whether it is her intention or not, Katinka’s work speaks to a certain simplicity and the ability to relinquish control. Though she does not seem to collaborate with other artists all that often, she seems to find supreme joy in collaborating with the ultimate artist: mother nature. She spoke many times to the desire to have her work be as simple as possible and the moment it became too complicated, she was no longer interested. It seems as if she is having a delicate and simple conversation with her materials. She seems to be asking them what they are comfortable with and what their limits are. Her joy may come from the ultimate knowledge that the materials will do whatever they want to do and that she is simply monitoring their progress. As if she is the grand instructor/parent/professor.