Desert Forest City
“Though certainly all artists are impacted by their surroundings, the places Kahlhamer visits, the people he meets, and the things he sees and hears while traveling are of paramount importance in how he creates his art. Entire bodies of work, and therefore many of his exhibitions, are informed by specific locations. The work that comprised “Almost American,” his first museum survey presented in 2000-2001, grew out of time spent back in Wisconsin, where he was particularly struck by the landscape, wintering eagle, and other aspects in that still highly familiar natural environment. Following September 11, when he saw the twin towers fall from his East Village walk-up, Kahlhamer set off for an extended residency at his parents’ winter home, a trailer park in Mesa, Arizona, where he began what would become a large body of drawings influenced both by the Sonoran desert and his association with the American Indian musicians in the Phoenix are. These works formed the basis for this 2004 exhibition “Let’s Walk West.”
Dean Sobel, Former Director of the Cllyford Still Museum, Denver Colorado
