Kenny Cole

About the Artist

I work with ink and gouache on paper and create large two-sided canvases. Prior to this I drew on paper with graphite, then glued the drawing to both the front and back of stretched and shaped canvases. I like the format of drawing but am very interested in the structures and supports inherent in painting, which is why I like to use both sides of a stretched canvas. My recent work has brought the addition of clear molded plastic from toy and hardware products which I typically mount on the back of the canvas. I like how the molded plastic is like a window or container, yet it caries with it an articulated surface that creates a tension with its own transparency.

My subject matter and imagery are very intuitive and direct, often of an activist nature. It is drawn from a variety of sources whether it be from my work experiences as a carpenter on construction sites here in Maine, books I read, news stories I hear on the radio, politics, junk mail or imagined scenarios. I tend to attach some kind of symbolic meaning to the stories or events that I depict and I also "work in" certain other generic symbols I've become attached to such as eagles, griffins, tree stumps, wheel chairs, embryos, missiles, tear drops, telephones, etc. which play sometimes minor, sometimes major roles in the imagery.

My goal is to create a work of art that is a self-conscious object. It would be an object that is not quite a painting, but even though these days this is rarely an issue, I feel that it is a critical distinction for me. To create within this format helps me maintain a tension between something that is sculpture and something that refers to a painting-like object. In this respect my work strives to be both cerebral and common, often incorporating text, and exploring sculptural qualities as a consequence of illusionist imagery requiring a painting's support.

Kenny Cole, January 2012