A Kick Up The Arts #3: James Kenny

Boom!

THE ARTIST by The Artist: JAMES KENNY Painter, Illustrator, Designer

London, Paris, New York – yes, I’ve been to all of them. However, I’ve only ever sold any art here in Ireland, and as such, the Greystones Guide has asked me to write something about myself.

I studied Art at Goldsmiths College, London in the ’80s but, that nearly put me off art for life. I sadly finished my studies disillusioned and forlorn.

Wandering across the wastelands of Europe, a kindly Greek man took pity on me and bought me all the equipment I would need to start a career drawing portraits of passing tourists – guaranteed to keep me in beer, cigarettes and chocolate croissants (my staple diet at the time). I never saw him again but from this I slowly but surely developed once again an interest in the arts, which in turn eventually led me back to Ireland, the land of my forefathers, to study animation at the now world-renowned Ballyfermot Senior College. It wasn’t world-renowned then though.

The rest, as they say, is history. Not interesting history featuring Kings, Queens and gigantic battles, but history none the less. Since leaving college I have worked in the Computer Game, Advertising, Television and Film industries, and am currently working in London as a senior matte painter for one of the big Visual Effects houses here in Soho (that’s filling in the bits they can’t be bothered to build on-set behind the actors, for the uninitiated).

I have kept up painting and drawing for my own pleasure as much as possible however, and below are some of my paintings, and some works by artists I have been influenced by and admire. There are really too many to list but we only have limited space!

Study After Velazquez’s Portrait Of Pope Innocent X

Francis Bacon: Study after Velazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X (Oil on Canvas 1953)
I have always loved Bacon since I first encounter his work as a callow youth, many years ago, He can of course be a but Rocky Horror and his later work is somewhat mannered and formulaic but at his best, as he is here, he generates a visceral visual language that few have equalled.

Betty

Gerhard Richter: Betty (Oil on Canvas 1988)
Gerhard Richter is a German artist whose works are either made from photographs or are huge Abstract pieces. He would generally be considered as one of the great artists of the 20th century and his work often (always?) addresses historical events, either of those of the troubled history of Germany or of Art itself. This painting is of his daughter, who is turning to look at one of own fathers paintings. It is a beautiful and evocative piece.

100 Years Ago

Peter Doig: 100 Years Ago (Carrera) (Oil on Canvas 2001)
Peter Doig is a Scottish landscape painter, who currently lives and works in Trinidad whose work, whist recognisable in it’s content, seems to speak to us from a dream-scape made of memory and fantasy. His work is often inspired by cinema and popular culture, as here. This painting being originally inspired by at record cover (indeed he originally wanted to design record covers as a youth).

The Vigorish

James Kenny: The Vigorish (Ink, Bleach and Acrylic on paper)
This painting was created a few years ago and is hanging in somebody’s house somewhere, though do not know who, or indeed where.
It was inspired by the many Crows of Greystones, who seem to rule the town and of which there seem to be many, and the poetry of Ted Hughes, from whose poem Crow’s Fall I took the text in the picture.
I got a bit too obsessed with the Crows of Greystones for a time there.

Another

James Kenny: Another (Oil on Canvas)
This is a very small, quickly executed painting that for whatever reason seemed to work quite well. I often find i am happier with the images that I can create quickly, if I over work something it generally collapses I find.

Life Studies

James Kenny: Life Studies (Ink and Bleach on paper)
Pretty much all the work I have mentioned above are made from photographs, either found of taken by the artist and it is a legitimate artistic device. However, I do still find a joy in working from life for what it is worth as if offers an immediacy of action that can by its very nature be lost in the studio. These drawing would have at most have taken about 5 minutes to create and I think that allows them to retain a certain intrinsic vitality.