Nils Karsten

Art Brokerage: Nils Karsten German Artist: b. 1970. Nils Karsten was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1970. Karsten’s work is mainly comprised of his woodcut prints and the carved woodblocks themselves, pencil drawings, and collage work. The artist takes inspiration from “found images” of band record covers, propaganda, photos, and other images originally claimed by the political or the social. The process of his work is the reclamation of those images of influence through cutting, carving, moving things around, and gluing. In harmony with his inspiration from these images, Karsten also uses feedback of the senses, such as a sound or a texture, as a starting point for his work. Having received education as a cabinetmaker, as well as receiving a BFA in painting at the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1999 and a MFA in painting from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2003, Karsten is able to employ many mediums in his works. Categorised as mixed media or illustration, the lines of each medium are often blurred on paper. They flow into each other much like distinct thoughts flow together in the mind, as Karsten said, “I ‘think’ in collages.” This sensual aspect of his inspiration, auditory or visual or the like, mixed with the intangible social and political influence of his inspirations creates a stage for the narration of a modern myth. Listings wanted.