From:L’ARENA
Isaac Kahn’s sculpture undoubtedly appears to the public as an attractive, enthralling, and in a sense, virtuous plastic expression.
The formal aspects of his work cannot help but call to mind Cubism; not the classic Cubism of Picasso and Braque but that of their descendents, in their rather geometrical elements that in theory have shaped the work of so-many artists. Arranged in space, the forms mime the movements of human figures but perform like automatons, hinged at the joints and captured in poses which suggest grace and sweetness.
Kahn’s creative impulse is most fully expressed in sculpture the medium that most deeply attracts and enthrals him. In three dimension he is able to demonstrate how effortlessly and yet how precisely he can mould the material, filling out his fleeting, airy figures with curving, sinuous lines. Leaving aside a few works which empha- sise the severe inflexibility of the figures, such as “Family”, for exam- ple, the rest of his sculptures are acrobatic figures daringly suspended in space, miraculously balanced on minimal parts of the body some- how able to support a much greater weight.
The figure remains the fundamental element of Kahn’s work; even when he attempts a foray into the abstract, he cannot help but allow to emerge from its mass the outlines of the human body, however transfigured, a delicately slender anatomical shape, suspended in space. The female form plays a fundamental role in his creativity, the irreplaceable and perhaps obsessive inspiration for sculptural inven- tions which he may deform but which always exalt the delights of the female body.
G. TREVISAN