Man Made Lake by Aidan Koch (Mini Kus! #94)

Aidan Koch's big, bold, colorful figures bend and pose in large panels that are capable of eliciting strong emotional responses. Like standing before an oversized Mark Rothko painting, there are panels here that seem to focus on a solitary color or two, hitting immensely somber tones that prove "less is more." Koch's work has always seemed to be fascinated by the relationship between man and the natural world. While Man Made Lake is no exception to that oeuvre, it also introduces the idea that attempts to analyze meaning in a person, a statement, a book, or a work of art, or anything really, can sometimes subvert the very nature of the piece. Our attempts to understand something often undermine the very feeling it expresses, or dilute the raw intensity of the emotion it can provoke.