Tatana Kellner

Biography

Tatana  Kellner’s work is rooted in social issues. She has been exhibited in numerous venues across USA, Canada, and Europe, and she has had over 50 solo exhibitions. Recently, her work has been selected for inclusion in the Hunterdon Museum, Art Alive (Delhi, India), Ringling School of Art (Sarasota, Fl), the Everson Museum, University of Albany Museum, Dorsky Museum, CEPA (Buffalo), Kentler International Drawing Space, Collar Works, (Troy, NY), New York Public Library, among many others.

Kellner is a co-founder and past artistic director of Women’s Studio Workshop.

In 2021 she was inducted into the Hall of Champions, North American Hand Papermakers. Kellner is a recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the Pollock Krasner Foundation, The Creative Climate Award, the Puffin Foundation, the Photographer’s Fund Award (CPW), the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships, and many others.

Kellner has been awarded fellowship residencies at The MacDowell, Yaddo, Banff Centre for the Arts, Light Work, Visual Studies Workshop, Saltonstall, I-Park, Millay Arts, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Artpark, Blue Mountain Center, Jentel, Fundacion Valparaiso, Bogliasco Foundation, Siena Art Institute, Ucross, Haystack, and Ragdale Foundation.

She was born in the Czech Republic and immigrated to the USA in 1969.

Artist statement

Examining my personal history has led me to think about how we as a society learn about and interpret the past and how that interpretation affects our understanding of contemporary culture and ultimately our individual lives. Growing up in communist Czechoslovakia as the daughter of Holocaust survivors, I learned to mistrust authority and question official doctrines. The current political landscape, with the erosion of civil liberties, the deterioration of public dialog, the attempt at suppressing any dissenting voices, and especially the war in Ukraine is eerily reminiscent of the Prague Spring, that I have personally experienced. These thoughts have occupied my thinking and guided my work.

My practice is varied, I use whatever form is appropriate, relying on my background in painting, printmaking, photography, and book arts. Often surreal, my work is created through collaging seemingly disparate images, referring to the shifting view of history. My recent work is informed by my almost obsessive interest in current events, and my frustration with affecting any meaningful outcome without resorting to propaganda. 

I use the simplest means of drawing and collage to create this work. Covered in dust, rubble, and layers upon layers of sediments, history, and politics are only revealed after digging up a lot of dirt, both physically and figuratively. I work with images in a similar way, digging through layers of information to arrive at the final images.