The following, written by curator Douglas Dreishpoon, is excerpts from wall texts for the Essenhigh solo exhibition, American Landscapes," 1999, at the Albright Knox Museum.


Recent Paintings by Inka Essenhigh
Mutant figures devoid of limbs and heads tumble across vast expenses. Dramatic actors engulfed by radiant space, they writhe and spin, contort and extend, propelled by invisible forces and adorned by minimal props. These are strange worlds, where nothing seems familiar and yet a palpable pathos permeates the chaos dystopian microcosms out of joint. Peering into these airless netherworlds, perplexed and baffled, we search for recognizable cues, all the while wondering what circumstances...