
Katherine Vetne
The Hunt, 2025
Metalpoint (goldpoint and aluminum wool) and graphite on chalk ground
36 x 48 inches inches
'With my last body of work in Palette Cleanser, I was picturing the viewer as a guest at a dinner where something has gone wrong; where an element of trepidation...
"With my last body of work in Palette Cleanser, I was picturing the viewer as a guest at a dinner where something has gone wrong; where an element of trepidation permeates an otherwise celebratory gathering. To make the works in that series, I was picturing a guest that was frozen in a kind of alarmed shock about something unsettling that had just happened, while anticipating what might be next, all while trying to keep it together enough to meet the social demands of being a guest at a dinner party. In The Hunt, I started to imagine a more empowered viewer. I laid out some utensils designed to pierce and jab (a seafood fork on the right, and a meat tenderizer on the top left) along with two Capodimonte flower figurines, and an Avon cologne bottle shaped like Julius Caesar. In the center is a porcelain figurine of a soldier or general on horseback (I believe the actual figurine it is Napoleon, but I wanted the identity to be ambiguous in this piece), laying on its side in a much less authoritative position than the figurine sculptor intended. Contrary to the works in Palette Cleanser, I wanted the viewer to take on a more active role in determining the events in the next scene. The viewer stands above the table, with the utensils in positions where they could be picked up. The flowers were chosen to suggest a finale; either as in a theatrical toss onto a presumed stage after a show, or as a funerary arrangement. The cologne bottle’s top is off, and the piece is also lying on its side in a disempowered state, foreshadowing a revolutionary kind of dismemberment for the horse and rider." - Katherine Vetne