Pecan Pie with apple slices, 2000
Within the walls of Ken Kewley’s home in Easton, art is as imperative as air. The creations inhabiting the space are legion, allowing visitors the luxury of pursuing their own adventurous trajectory through the three stories of his cozy abode.
The seductive scent of drying paint primes the senses as you ascend to his studio on the third floor. It is here that one is surrounded by works in a state of flux still shifting under the artist’s expert touch. This is an enlightening experience since the art exerts tremendous appeal in its burgeoning states.
In this maker’s masterful hands, color and shape achieve rare harmonies across the surfaces of his paintings and collages. Art history and its ontological energies entwine in Kewley’s creations to produce pieces that are relevant, revelatory and enjoyable after a hundred engagements.
For many years, Kewley has successfully tuned into the open secrets of color and their uncountable variations, making them harmonize and vibrate in his own eloquent manner.
“A colorist loves colors as a writer loves words and the sounds they make. It is the love that comes through when the mind gets out of the way. Don’t think too much. Don’t look too hard or focus too hard on the little things,” Kewley offers. “Trust your instincts. We all have the colors needed to make beautiful paintings. I try not to worry about what I do not know, what I have been unable to teach myself. My inabilities serve me better than my abilities. Art is not something that is learned and then practiced, it is a form of communication and one is always trying to say something clearer. The mind messes up love and it messes up painting.”
Kewley is also a gifted teacher who has worked at Lafayette College, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Hendrix College, Hollins University, Jerusalem Studio School, Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill and the JSS Italian Program. Any time spent discussing creative acts with him is instructive and encourages one to delve deeper into the infinite realms of art.
Connect with the artist at kenkewley@yahoo.com to arrange a studio visit, or check out his page at facebook.com/kkewley.
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