artist & art info...
I was raised in Colorado where I went on to study art at the University of Colorado in Boulder. I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in December of 1992. Not long after college, I moved to San Francisco, CA, where I have lived and worked for the past 15 years.
All my drawings are created with pen & ink on illustration board. More precisely, Rapidograph technical pens with India ink in hot-pressed white illustration board. The pen nib sizes I use are almost exclusively 0/.35 & 00/.35 The only other medium that has snuck into a drawing is white charcoal, used in the piece "Mantis & Butterflies" to highlight the butterflies' wings against the pale green illustration board. All the pieces are framed under glass or Plexiglas. The frames are either black metal or black wood. Drawings range in size from the largest at 30in x 40in to the smallest at 8in x 10in.
My artistic influences vary. The "myth" series (galleries one & two) is basically a "made up" mythos, not derived from any current or past mythology or religion, but stylistically evocative of some iconic imagery of Hindu devotional paintings & prints. Any symbolism is left up to the viewer, enabling one to create their own stories and significance...or simply to just enjoy the bizarre anthropomorphic animals and insects in their detailed & decorative surroundings. You need to look closely at these..there's a lot going on. In contrast to my more recent work, these pieces are predominantly symmetrical in composition with very little negative space.
My recent work displays a more obvious Japanese influence. They are asymmetrical compositions with a balance of positive & negative space....imaginary, decorative, flowing gardens populated with insects and animals, very two-dimensional with little or no visual depth.
If you've already visited the galleries, you'll notice the praying mantis as a reoccurring image appearing either as the focal point or hidden in the details of a majority of the drawings. I have always enjoyed drawing insects, and in particular the mantis. It's characteristics are certainly alien, yet somehow strangely "human". So I use the mantis as subject for it's possibilities of pose & beauty...any other symbolism there might be, I'll leave up to the viewer.
Thank you so much for visiting my site! I hope you've enjoyed what you have found here. I continue to draw, so come back soon for updates.
Though pricing is not currently listed (coming soon), all pieces, unless otherwise noted, are for sale.
FAQ's...coming soon.
Please contact me with any questions or comments.
Cheers, Ken
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