Before we talk about art…
We first share a cup of coffee.

A conversation about kitchens, perception, and why every visitor enters through a different door.

Karsten:

People often ask me why I created the Coffee Lovers.

Some think it is just another series.
Others believe it is a way to build a community.

But neither of those answers feels true.

Lyren:

Then why does the kitchen exist?

Karsten:

Because before I’m an artist…
I’m a human being.

When someone visits my house, I don’t begin by showing my paintings.

I invite them into the kitchen.
We make a coffee.
We sit down.

Everything else can wait.

Lyren:

So the kitchen was never really about coffee.

Karsten:

No. Coffee is only what we share.
What matters is the atmosphere.

Some people speak.
Some only smile.
Some stay for hours.
Some leave after five minutes.

And some simply sit there quietly, listening to the conversations.

All of them belong.

Lyren:

Not everyone walks through the same door.

Karsten:

Exactly.

Some visitors discover the galleries first.
Some come because of a particular collection.
Some enjoy reading the journal.

And some…
never leave the kitchen.

They come for the quiet.
For the conversations.
For the feeling that nothing is expected of them.

Lyren:

That sounds different from how many people think about art.

Karsten:

Perhaps.

I never wanted to place art above people.

The artwork is only one way of meeting another human being.

Sometimes words are enough.
Sometimes silence.
Sometimes a cup of coffee.
Sometimes an image.

Lyren:

And the images?

Karsten:

They speak a language that often reaches beyond words.

People from many countries found my work long before we shared a common language.

Translations were imperfect.
Sometimes completely wrong.

Yet the images were understood.

Perhaps because perception has no native language.

Lyren:

So your work begins before the artwork emerge.

Karsten:

Yes.

It begins with perception.

The artwork is simply one possible form that perception takes.

Every picture starts on the surface.
Its real form appears much deeper.

Not where answers are found…
but where someone is willing to truly look.

Lyren:

Maybe that is why your house has so many rooms.

The gallery.
The collections.
The journal.

And the kitchen.

Karsten:

Each room welcomes a different visitor.

No one has to enter every room.
Everyone is free to stay where they feel at home.

Lyren:

And perhaps…
that is what KD LightCode Art has always been.

Not simply a place to look at images.

Karsten:

Before we talk about art…
we first share a cup of coffee.

Everything else
can grow from there.