I recently became very busy during my travels. From Guatemala to Costa Rica I was touring around, backpacking, and checking out the sites. In San Jose, Costa Rica, however, I bunch of opportunities to paint came my way and I jumped on it. Here are some shots of the works I did throughout San Jose. I also decided to open a new section on my site, dedicated to murals. More info on these pieces can be found there.. and more works to come!
My latest painting. This one is done with acrylic wall paint, about 7×7 feet and done on a metal door of El Buho Vegetariano restaurant in San Jose, Costa Rica.
I´m hoping to find some more walls to paint on my travels in Central America this Winter and Spring. If you are interested in having a mural done for a residence, business or institution, hit me up at kevin(at)kevinledo.com
I’m very happy to announce that my work will now be represented by Yves Laroche Gallery in Montreal, Canada.
I am presently traveling around and working out of different countries in Central America, therefore, for the next few seasons, Yves Laroche Gallery will be my primary dealer and contact in Montreal. Please check them out!
Note that the gallery also has access to more paintings than those appearing on their site.
I haven’t had time this summer for keeping this site updated and fresh, let alone most other things in my life. I have been so busy that all I can do is sleep when I get the chance, however, I’ve been busy with good things. For the past 3 months or so, I’ve been working on some special effects for the film “Noah,” a film by Darren Aronofsky starring Emma Watson, Russell Crowe and Logan Lerman. It’s basically based off of the biblical story Noah’s Ark.
This is the first time I work in special effects and I quite like it. The studio that I’m working for is full of talented and friendly special effects artists, and learning from them has been, and is, a great experience. I’d love to show you pictures of the animals we are creating, but then I’d get fired.
A few things have been on the back burner in the mean time, slow cooking, and eventually getting done. Just this past month I participated in a group art show in Portland, Oregon. The show is still up and running at Hellion Gallery and is called “Live Free.” The show was curated by a talented artist and friend of mine, Mike Maxwell. Mike put together a selection of artists that he has had on his series of podcasts called “Live Free.” The artwork and participating artist list is quite impressive and I’m happy to be part of it!
I recently finished a few little commissioned artworks. From time to time I take these on and it usually brings me out of what I normally do, which is more of a challenge, but always a good experience in the end. I normally don’t post my commissions in my regular portfolio, but here are 3 that I recently finished. (the shots aren’t the best quality)
Next on the agenda is a BIG change. I’ll be moving to Guatemala in November for 6 to 8 months to learn Spanish, travel around some, and set up a studio to continue doing art. It’s just time to get out of the routine and freshen up my outlook, hopefully create some great art. My plan is to continue writing this blog out there, where I imagine I’ll have more time than I do now.
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Last Fall I was fortunate enough to be part of En Masse’s biggest project yet! 30 artists got together to take over one whole room at the Museum of Fine Art of Montreal! It was a huge success and loads of fun. Check out this sweet video that Fred Caron from put together.
I’m having my next exhibition on April 6th, 2012 at Ayden Gallery in Vancouver, titled Awakening the Fire.
I’ll also be showing along side Jose Rivas, an awesome artist from Vancouver, as well as Lawrence Nerbonne, another great artist from Montreal.
I’ll be featuring 14 new works that range in size from 12″ x 18″ to 4′ x 5.’ I will be presenting, for the first time, my latest mixed media works on wood. I’m feeling good about the work in this exhibit and I hope you get the chance to check it out.
Nick Lepard is a painter based out of Vancouver where he graduated from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. His work is focused around realistic portraiture and the abstracting of it. Lepard’s paintings are beautifully composed with bold gestures that make up faces that sometimes blur the line between beauty and the grotesque. The colours covey a vibrant contentment while the gaze from and the distortions of the human face carry a dark and hollow sentiment.
What really attracts me to this work is the generous application of paint and the playfulness of mark making, not to mention that this work has the slightest resemblance to analytical cubism, which happens to be my favorite art period.
To feed your brain more of his work, check out Lepard’s site.
I came across one of Waldemar Pawlikowski’s paintings on ffffound and I fell in love with it. I needed to know who had created it and what other work this person had. So I began following the trail from ffffound to this artist’s deviantart page. There I found more of his work. I found out that he is from Poland and with a little more google research found out that he is also a singer/ songwriter. Pawlikowski has also done quite well for himself in music as has won numerous music prizes.
Pawlikowski’s artwork is quite beautiful, and above I have chosen some of my favorite pieces. I’m normally not very drawn to landscape painting, but Pawlikowski has managed to capture a ghostly impression of his lanscapes in a beautiful array of delicate colours which I appreciate. What I enjoy the most is his play with light and shadow and the soft treatment to his work.
If you can read Polish, you can find more info on Pawlikowskior website, or just check it out for more images of his work.
João Ruas is an artist from and based out of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He approaches his artwork with a variety of mediums, from pencils, gouache and watercolour to metal leaf and collage. Ruas first introduction to art was comics and later on he studied design in university; elements of which are evident in his approach to his work. But what I find to be completely captivating is his dark and mythological imagery, exploring worlds between archaic folklore and and the shadow of our subconscious.
Ruas’ recent solo exhibition, “Yore” was at Thinkspace Gallery in Culver City. For more images and info, check out his past and present works on the gallery site or check out his blog.
Maria Kreyn is a Russian born, New York based artist. She has a wonderful body of work with paintings and drawings that come from a classical approach, with attention to technique and composition.
What I enjoy is not only not only her technical approach, but her use of light and colour, and the intensity she is able to capture in the faces that she depicts.
At the beginning of the month, I was in San Diego with Montreal’s art based initiative, En Masse, to do some live painting for Art San Diego. There was four of us from Montreal, Jason Botkin, Fred Caron, Kirsten McCrea and myself, and we joined forces with San Diego’s Mike Maxwell and Kevin Peterson. We painted throughout the fair, completing the collaborative piece by the last day. It was a huge success and we were told it was a definite highlight of the event.
I’m really happy to participate in this project whenever I can, and look forward to it growing all across the continent.
Check out more about En Masse here.
http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/en-masse.php
Pakayla Biehn is a multidisciplinary artist based out of San Francisco. Featured here are a selection of oil paintings from her “Double Exposure” series. Biehn used a variety of photographs as references for this body of work; some are from single exposure shots from photographer and friend Jeff Enlow, which Biehn digitally composited in Photoshop. Other photographs are double exposure shots from photographer Tamara Lichtenstein.
Biehn’s paintings have a soft and delicate approach, light colour range, which coupled with the a ghostly double exposure effect, gives the work a dreamy, contemplative feel.
Biehn is currently exhibiting at Thinkspace Gallery in Culver city. Check out her webpage or this wonderful interview on Erratic Phenomena.
Shawn Barber, based out of L.A., focuses on the portraiture and tattoo culture. His paintings are lively and expressive, and range in technique from tight, beautifully executed renderings to expressive markings all in the one piece. Barber will often superimpose numerous limbs on his figures, suggesting the passage or time, or as I like to think, an ethereal and spiritual plane as you would see in Hindu representations of gods and goddesses.
On his site, Barber has a great write up about his story, and especially on being a professional artist. Check it out!
My latest painting, “Natural Phases,” is oil and bronze leaf on wood panel, 48″ high by 36″ across.
It’s an interesting thing that happened with the creation of this painting; I had put together my composition, which I was happy with, and then printed out my references and was set to begin. I had printed out the design in it’s entirety, as well as two details, or close ups, so that I can get good references for my painting. Then, there I was before the panel, all set to commence. I laid out the three reference pages and one of the close ups caught my eye. It was intriguing as it was, only displaying a portion of the full image. It left elements of the image in question and it posed more questions than the initial idea. I liked the ambiguity it presented. And so, after about a day of contemplation, I decided to go for it. The rest of the painting happened in a similar fashion. Imagery came to mind as I painted which led me to add elements as well as take them away.
James Jean may need little or no introduction at all, but I thought that I’d share a few thoughts and feature some of my favorite works of his from 2010.
Jean’s style is a unique union of influences and techniques. It’s a beautiful and at times grotesque experience gazing upon his works. Jean masterfully combines traditional Chinese painting, or guó huà 国画, elements of surrealism and a variety of mark making that describe abstract forms which depict a range from elegant, enchanted and wispy arrangements to guttural, agressive hard lines. Jean is experimental and delivers a wealth of variety in his work. Jean’s also plays with an array of colour palettes, from intensely colourful to monochromatic and sombre.
I think Jean’s work is truly inspired and I would love to have one of his works in my home. I suggest you check out more on his site.
Angela Fraleigh is an artist based out of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Fraleigh’s paintings range in scale from very large canvases, as the work featured above, “The Quietest Sounds on Earth” which is 96″ x 192″, to small scale works of only 11″x14.” I feel it is important to include the scale of her work to give you an idea of how much of a presence they would have in person.
Fraleigh states “My work twists and exploits notions of nostalgia for a lost youth, when everything was seemingly possible, and a longing for an idealism somehow unmarred by defeat and failure. This lingering desire to hold sweet and superficial ideals collides with an unraveling discomfort and dissolution. There is an attempt to freeze the past, yet the future continues to creep in, distorting and disturbing the vision.”
There is dynamic movement in Fraleigh’s compositions and a captivating balance of light and dark, realism and abstract. The marrying of her realistic figurative renderings and the ethereal abstractions take us to a world of limbo, emotional memory and transformation.
Check out more of Fraleigh’s wonderful work on her website.
