Edith Kallman had a unique approach, using a calligraphic style to create intricate patterns with repeated words. Her spirals and grids offer us personal and social messages vanishing into graphic images.

“Such words and phrases as Obsessive, Pressures, And On and On, serve as titles…the words stimulate viewer participation and experience.”  Dorothy Burkhart, Artweek

Edith was primary influenced by the abstract expressionist painters of the 50s and 60s—Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning,  Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, and Clyfford Still. Her use of color fields and gestural brush strokes reflects their influence.

In the early 70s Edith developed her own style, which challenged the aesthetic establishment of her time. She was secondarily influenced by the Graffiti Art movement, introduced into the modern vernacular of painting by Robert Rauschenberg.

Words became her obsession and stylistic focus. Edith’s beautiful calligraphic patterns, both in color and in black and white, embody an intimate visual dynamic. She mastered her technique on paper and canvas with her meticulous use of pen and brush, and in her later work through the technique of mono printing.

Edith draws us into her inner world, allowing us to choose how we read her “painting with words”.

Much of her original works perished in the 2017 Tubbs Fire.

All artwork on this site is Copyright Nathan N Kallman 2014