"Iowa" Aireal view
This series of paintings are abstract images using a stream of consciousness approach to art making, meaning that there is no preplanned sketch or image that I have in my head that I use for reference. Most of these images are painted on YUPO Synthetic Papers which are made from extruded polypropylene pellets. These pellets are compressed flat so the paper appears to be paper but it is really plastic paper. It is very smooth, somewhat like a sheet of glass so that the paint if it is applied in heavy quantities can be moved around on the paper by brush or you can even pick up the paper in your hands and by tilting it in various directions cause the paint to run freely in whatever direction you want it to go. It is a very forgiving medium in the sense that if you make a mistake you can wash the paint off with a damp cloth or even place the sheet of Yupo under a faucet and simply rinse it off. I that doesn't work you can always just flip the paper over and paint on the other side. Since there is no preplanned image in my head. I start by loading my brush with paint and start to paint and hope that something amazing happens. Some of these images have typographic elements, letters of the alphabet, or numbers imprinted on them. This is achieved by using wooden type that I have in my archives that are left over from the days of letterpress printing and are now obsolete since the typographic process has been completely replaced by digital type. I select a piece of wooden type and then paint on the type using Gouache or acrylics and then literally "imprint" the type element onto the paper. It is a very fast process because of it's spontaneity, so I will often have several of these paintings in progress at one time, similar to an assembly line manufacturing process. Once completed I will usually spray the image with spray varnish to set the colors and make the surface of the painting impervious to damage caused if something gets splashed on the painting by accident. When working on a Yupo painting I lay the paper on my worktable flat and flow the colors on so that I can control the way the paint moves across the surface of the paper. See the image below for my studio setup when working on a Yupo painting.
This series of abstract paintings are small images, approximately 5" X 7". They are matted and framed. Some are double matted or even triple matted and the frames are contemprary metal silver and gold frames. The size including mats and frames is 8 1/2" X 11". Medium is gouache on museum board. For purchase information please e mail me at this address: kentity@comcast.net
The title of this abstract painting is "Thanksy Banksy" to see the full story on how this painting evolved click here