KW

Artist Statement:

I know many artists love using their sketchbook—I am definitely not one of them. I’ve tried it many times and regretfully obtained nothing more than a mountain of unused sketchbooks crammed into my closet. I prefer to hold in my noggin beautiful moments, thoughts, and words from my day and then siphon it into scrawly scribbles of paint on canvas. That initial act creates just enough space between me and my little ideas to ask the painting what it wants to become. 

I paint in a primitive style because some cultures that are now pretty much forgotten created images of humans in an abstracted form to say— “Hey! We are more than just meat bags.” Although I think we are beautiful meat bags, my interest lies in the unseen aspects that make us human BEINGS. I also mash multiple patterns on the human body and landscape to suggest that who we are and how we see the world are fragmented shards of memory, emotions, energy, and beliefs loosely held together in time. 

Bio:

KW, is a Seattle based illustrator, originally from Annapolis, Maryland. He studied printmaking under Margo Humphrey at UMD that developed his current style. He was also mentored in the Cape Cod School of Art style by premiere plain-air painter in Annapolis, Lee Boynton. The mentorship developed KW’s palette and approach to seeing color.