Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Ken Browne

I was exploring an Irish Gallery site that I follow and found an interesting artist whose abstract work is influenced by music. Ken Browne is a self taught Irish artist who has been painting full time for ten years. I emailed him and asked permission to present his work; he graciously agreed. While preparing this post, there were many things I wanted to know about Ken which left me I sorry I didn't ask more questions in my email. Possibly there will be a second post.

Ken currently has a solo show at Urban Retreat Gallery, a new gallery on Hanover Quay in Dublin. I was not able to locate a website for this gallery. Hopefully it is in progress. His show is called Vibrations and he describes his work as "inscapes" derived from memory and emotive response to sound and rhythm.

In his artist statement Ken writes:

"Music is fundamental to my art as it determines the mood of the piece. Every piece is an emotional journey and music is the medium."

From my exploration , I discovered that Ken is also a musician and his passion for music began early in life. Today according to a press release for Vibrations, he paints to the sound of Japanese pianist Izumi Kimura.



Cill Rialaig Morning Song
Mixed media on canvas ( 2007) 40 cm. x 40cm.


Untitled #2
Mixed media on canvas (2008) 32 x 32 in.

Untitled #1
Mixed media on canvas ( 2008) 100 cm. x 100 cm.

The rich colours in many of the works created in 2008 remind me of the work of the old masters found in museums and churches in Italy. The richness of the golds, browns and reds are unmistakable. These are the works that hold my attention because they are the colours I carried home with me from Italy and which appeared in many of my own works for several years.

As I tried to find more information about Ken and his influences, I discovered he had indeed visited Italy and was fascinated with the backgrounds of many religious paintings.

4 comments:

Leslie Avon Miller said...

Thank you so much Margaret! I have enjoyed seeing his art.

Blue Sky Dreaming said...

This was a great introduction of a fine artist...his work, his imagery had a haunting,dreamy affect to me. Thank you so much!

M said...

I always enjoy it when someone introduces an artist on their blog. There are so many out there and when someone does the research it focuses you in a bit and saves exploration time. I'm always interested in how artists come to work the way they do.

p said...

I think its great to showcase other artists on our blogs, isn't it wonderful when you find works that just do it for you? You remind me that next time I do this I should ask the artist a few questions. I'm so in the moment I forgot to do that with the person I showcased. I'm shocked at how obvious that is to do now that you've done it!