Master Thy Media
Posted under:
ANNEXE by James Kennedy 24 X 36 Oils on Wood Panel 2010
What advice would you give an artist just starting out?
I thank my parents for bestowing on me what I consider to be the most important asset in a career in art…a strong work ethic and sense of self- discipline. Sounds a bit totalitarian I admit but this is what will get you through and sustain you on your journey through process and the moments of doubt. You have to get in that studio every day…even if it’s just to sit and ponder…stare…leaf through resource material or revisit old works. It can seem repetitious , but I often use the analogy of a master-potter…in Japan they can throw and turn the same vessel a thousand times in search of perfection, every one is different in good and bad ways and from that they learn. This is how I approach my art…just keep creating…learn and grow from the mishap and the success. I also use studio as a refuge from the outside world…it is all too easy to absorb the world of media hype that surround us.
SEMAPHORE by James Kennedy 48×36 Mixed Media on Incised Masonite 2010
You went from a dancer to an artist, what lead to the change?
It was late nineties and I had moved to Los Angeles after a fairly successful run of shows at the National Theatre in London and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. I had a big agent and I thought the world was my oyster. Wrong!!! I hated Los Angeles and it’s “flaky” system. Everything that could turned pear -shape, the frustration of not being able to use my craft drove me nuts, nothing was concrete. When I returned to my drawings and paintings that was the only real thing I had to hold on to…a product…or a visceral, physical bi-product of me.
How long have you been creating and how has your style changed over the years?
My background is a theatrical one and the primary reason I embraced that path was the love of inhabiting character and my ability to become other people. The same applies to my painting and as a result my styles change…or should I say…morphs. Always shocks me when people in the art-world see those changes, they can oftentimes be unsympathetic to certain siecles within an artists development because for the most part they are drawn to one particular period they can relate to and like. But peruse the books on any great artist and there you will find constant change throughout their careers.
What influences your artwork? People? Emotion? Memories?
I think emotions primarily…I have design training but am for the most part a self-taught artist so I have to rely on my gut instincts as to when a painting is done and when the spatial language and color thematics complete it. Interestingly I am about to start work on a new series that amalgamates elements of drawings with my paintings that’s driven more by memory and stimuli such as ad campaigns and street-art.
In a piece titled “Deconstructed Nature” you use wax, paper, bitumen emulsion and linen contained in wood cradle. How was working with wax and was this the first time you experimented using a different element?
THOUGHTS ON GRAY by James Kennedy 34X34 Mixed Media on Masonite.
I worked…past tense…with wax and loved it but it just became way too toxic for me. I occasionally get out the burners and torches if I want to use it as a textural ingredient in a work…but rarely. Should add another piece of advice here…I read this in one of those quasi self-help artist books somewhere but it is an important thing to know…“master thy media”, this is so true. Playing with and exploring a material is an amazing experience but one day you have to just get serious and knock it into shape.
Please tell us a bit about the current art show you’re preparing for and where we can find your artwork.
I am currently preparing for the summer season and creating new works for galleries and dealers, also working on a cohesive body of personal work for that big day when a NY gallerist decides to make a studio visit. My works are available through Sara Nightingale Gallery on the East End, Galerie Werner in Pittsburgh, Anne Loucks Gallery, Chicago. I have several other art-dealers, designers and consultants I work with. I also have a viewing area at my studio in Chelsea where folks can make an appointment to see the work. And my website.
