More about my painting methods and the ideas that come from it.
The main focus of my earthwork art is on the intangible forces that shape and mold all things. The concern is less for realism and abstraction and has more to do with the "actual" in art and life. My objective is to recognize what is, to accept what is, and proceed from their.
KC-K aerial photograph of Pleasant Bay, Cape Cod August 2009
"Marine Life" Last painting of 2008
SPEED ELEMENTS peer into our vast and mysterious universe.
A new avenue of thought with an unconventional palette led to new aisels in the library. I realized that art
books could not answer the questions I had about a direct relationship with nature. "The Conduct of Life" by Ralph Waldo Emerson is one such book that I revisit periodically.
By replacing the words: nature, physics, relativity and such, I was able to create the art books I sought.
Photograph of Io, a Jupiter Moon January 1, 2005
"Solar Flare" (40" x 30") 2005
SELF SIMILARITY
(off to the right of center). That yellow haze represents a place that might be seven thousand light years away.
"Sea and Land" (3" diameter) 1982
Circular 3 " diameter mini paintings have come to be signature pieces to much of the work I have created over the span of my career.
Portable Mini Paintings were first introduced to the public with the New Zealand 1982 exhibitions in Auckland and Christchurch.
In those shows, ("MACRO-MICRO"), one was struck with the scale of the gallery rooms to the small works that dotted the walls.
What was being stressed was that there is no need to make monumental scale paintings to convey the enormity of space.
Less materials are needed and less energy would be spent transporting a small box of seventy-five paintings.
"Two Rivers", 48" x 36" 2003
Simply put, I manipulate space, time and matter...
...in this case the "matter" for the most part, is paint.
"Separated At Birth II" 32" x 48" (with paint and spray foam on plywood) Starting date 2001
The painting above, "Separated At Birth II", is one of three pieces cut from a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood.
In the case of the piece above, it stayed outside for six years.
One of the other pieces stayed out on the roof garden studio for fours years.
The third piece went out only once and was used for a performance at C.B.G.B's Gallery
for a TIME RELEASED performance called- "Collisions, Where Paint Meets Nature.", (2004)
A Speed Element paint experiment was set in motion in front of an audience
and projected live along with pre-recordings of past paint experiments
and other places in our neighboring solar system, such as the "Red Oval" of Jupiter .
Space and motion meet sound and vision.
A planet surface is a visual record of past events and the same is true for a Speed Element painting.
Photograph of New Jersey just east of Manhattan. September 2001
If asked how long it takes to make a painting I say that it depends on where and when a Speed Element painting is made.
the rotation, angle to the sun, the inclusion of a moon... Whether an "intelligent hand" was involved or not,
the earth we see today was formed by incredible variables. The same is true for each "Speed Element" paint experiment.
A change in weather, altitude, season, location... can completely change what we see.
A painting will have different visual result if painted in: Death Valley in mid summer, the Arctic Circle in mid-winter
or the balmy island of Tahiti. It stands to reason why every place on the globe looks unique.
"Actual" perception came long before the concept of realism and abstraction. Now, in a sense, we may have come full circle
as scientists investigate anew with experiments they never had the opportunity until technological advances made it possible.
Such as, how an egg develops in zero gravity. The strength for me is within this triad of realism, abstraction and the "actual"
increases my powers of observation in order to create an art that includes what we are learning beyond the surface of our planet
with the incredible images Hubble and other instruments have had to offer our privileged generation.
"Angel and Demon", 30" x 40" 2006
I attempt to predict paint formations, images and situations in advance of their actual appearance.
This is an exercise in learning to become more farsighted.
Black and Yellow World (Close Up), 30" x 24" 1984
These "reactive improvisations" offer a greater understanding
of the actual / physical dynamics of our world.
The East Village, New York, Roof Top Studio (Feb. 2006)
Here is the result of the St. Patrick's Weekend Snow Painting 2007
freeze dried paint looks very much like lyken.
"St. Patrick's Weekend Snow Painting", 48" x48" (Freeze Drying Paint section) 2007
Solo Exhibition, "COLLISIONS - Where Paint and Nature Meet" June 9th - July 7th, 2007 N.Y., N.Y.
or would like to be on the mailing list for
GALLERY SHOWS & TIME RELEASED PERFORMANCES.
It would also be a pleasure to have you visit my studio and see this art first hand.
Please click on the link below:
http://kencroken.com/KC-K_PAINTING_GALLERY.html
Copyright © 2007 Twenty-First Century Landscape Paintings. All Rights Reserved
