KEN CRO-KEN
ENVIRONMENTAL PAINTER
Welcome to my website!
Thanks for dropping by to have a look at my paintings.
By mixing paints and catalysts together, I set my "Speed Element" paints into motion
and mimic the push-pull forces found in nature that shape and mold all things.
As a result, I paint microscopic as well as satellite views of the earth
and places scattered throughout the universe.
These are abstracts waiting to be called realistic when technology "catches up".
Thanks for dropping by to have a look at my paintings.
By mixing paints and catalysts together, I set my "Speed Element" paints into motion
and mimic the push-pull forces found in nature that shape and mold all things.
As a result, I paint microscopic as well as satellite views of the earth
and places scattered throughout the universe.
These are abstracts waiting to be called realistic when technology "catches up".
"A Brief Moment in Time", 48" x 36" 2001
The active paint compound that I have been developing since 1980 is neither oil nor acrylic paints. With that said, I concentrate a considerable amount of focus on what I call "reactive improvisations". A "Reactive Improv." reflects that more time in life is spent reacting than acting and I take on the role as part of and not the center of the universe.
An active Speed Element paint experiment produces many paint formations and images that elude capture by the canvas but not the video camera. It would be more accurate to call a painting that comes to rest a "painted" and the video could more accurately be called the "painting".
I must predict illusions in advance of their actual appearance. This is no different than understanding what needs to be considered when attempting a landing on Mars, for example. One must predict where Mars will be in time, given the speed and direction of the planet and the speed and direction of the spacecraft attempting to land there. Actual nature, time and timing are more directly involved with this method of painting. Therefore, it became essential for me to further develop the observational skill of farsightedness.
Essentially what I do is manipulate space, time and matter. The matter, in my case, is paint.
Photograph of The Red Oval of Jupiter June 2005
Born one month and one day before the first spacecraft was ever launched,
(SPUTNIK on October 4th, 1957),
I made it just in time to welcome in the Space Age.
.....................................................................................
KC-K
Our generation has had the privilege to witness incredible images captured by the Hubble telescope and such.
Yet, we are limited by twenty-first century technology and can see only inches within respect to the vastness of the universe.
Ironically, with what for a short time will be considered unconventional methods,
this form of painting can take us to the farthest stretches of the universe.
Let me take you on a journey that goes beyond my imagination but not my efforts, to see the heavens by way of paint.
THIS IS THE BIG BANG THEORY WITHIN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY ART.
Personally I love the summer but professionally it is winter that I find most inspiring
as I create below freezing paint experiments that extents a "paint happening" to weeks or months.
The very same paint experiment will have very different visual results if painted in Alaska, Death Valley
"Nature has her own mode for doing each thing, and has somewhere told us plainly;
and if we decide to choose our own ways, as opposed to nature's,
nature will not be slow in undeceiving us."
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, "THE CONDUCT OF LIFE, 1860
Out in print later this year will be my first book that will precede the comprehensive writings on this method of painting.
Emerson has been a tremendous inspiration on how I think about and observe our world.
It was eventually unavoidable quoting him often and therefore, the book will be entitled:
"THE CONDUCT OF PAINT"
KC-K
Our generation has had the privilege to witness incredible images captured by the Hubble telescope and such.
Yet, we are limited by twenty-first century technology and can see only inches within respect to the vastness of the universe.
Ironically, with what for a short time will be considered unconventional methods,
this form of painting can take us to the farthest stretches of the universe.
Let me take you on a journey that goes beyond my imagination but not my efforts, to see the heavens by way of paint.
THIS IS THE BIG BANG THEORY WITHIN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY ART.
Personally I love the summer but professionally it is winter that I find most inspiring
as I create below freezing paint experiments that extents a "paint happening" to weeks or months.
The very same paint experiment will have very different visual results if painted in Alaska, Death Valley
in the dead of summer, balmy Tahiti or in the shadow of the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
The duration of each paint happening will also be unique to its environment.
The key to it all for me has been to study the invisible forces of this given planet and its motion.
As an eco-experimentalist, I soon realized that I didn't have to go outdoors to create environmental paintings
because a hot, cold, wet and dry day will effect the outcome of a Speed Element painting.
This is a physical investigation of our planet and I learn about paint and nature simultaneously."Nature has her own mode for doing each thing, and has somewhere told us plainly;
and if we decide to choose our own ways, as opposed to nature's,
nature will not be slow in undeceiving us."
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, "THE CONDUCT OF LIFE, 1860
Out in print later this year will be my first book that will precede the comprehensive writings on this method of painting.
Emerson has been a tremendous inspiration on how I think about and observe our world.
It was eventually unavoidable quoting him often and therefore, the book will be entitled:
"THE CONDUCT OF PAINT"
In the meantime, there is a link below that will show you more art and offer more words about my art.
Hopefully you will get an idea of where my paints and methods are leading me
by the trail of paintings I've made for nearly thirty years.
I hope you will enjoy seeing them.
* Please feel free to contact me with any question or comments. *
It would also be my pleasure to set up an appointment for you to visit my studio and see this artwork first hand.
You can also go to the CONTACT US tab above to be notified about future gallery shows
and TIME RELEASED PERFORMANCES.
To begin the journey of seeing and reading more about Speed Element paintings,
please click on the link below:
http://kencroken.com/KC-K_SPEED_ELEMENT_PAINTS.html
* Please feel free to contact me with any question or comments. *
It would also be my pleasure to set up an appointment for you to visit my studio and see this artwork first hand.
You can also go to the CONTACT US tab above to be notified about future gallery shows
and TIME RELEASED PERFORMANCES.
To begin the journey of seeing and reading more about Speed Element paintings,
please click on the link below:
http://kencroken.com/KC-K_SPEED_ELEMENT_PAINTS.html
.................
