ONE WALL returns to Jackson Junge Gallery for its second season on July 8, 2016 and runs through September 2, 2016. The exhibition provides artists with a single white wall to manipulate as they choose. Over the course of eight weeks, four unique installations will transform the space occupied by the wall. This exhibition has 24 hour exposure and can be viewed in the gallery’s street level window at any time.

Paul Kenneth: Curious Kin Series Statement: Of my childhood memories, my fondest time was spent exploring my grandparent’s eclectic Minnesota estate. They had countless treasures, my favorite being tintype portraits of family members dating back several generations. Some of the photographs were kept in old musty albums, while others were displayed in a crooked salon style arrangement in their bedroom. To me, time had a way of distorting these images; it made them more than just depictions of people. The portraits whispered to me.

The ancestors depicted in Curious Kin come from both my maternal and paternal lineage to create a self-realized pictorial history of my origins. My process begins with a rigorous preparation of the canvas substrate. Layer upon layer of medium is slowly built up, then sanded away leaving a velvet-like surface that amplifies the materiality of the paint. The foundation of the image is drawn in pencil and begins as a direct representation of the source photograph. The portrait is then transformed into a drawing-painting hybrid after a precise amount of acrylic is applied. The varied textures undulate between harmonious continuity and intentional self-destruction, consummating the final fragmented likeness.

As an artist with a focus in portraiture I am constantly interrogating the norms and boundaries of the figure painting genre. My painting practice entails equal parts of chance, improvisation, and calculated elements of realism combined to create humorous painting mutations. With determination I strive to depict the variety of forms, both real and imagined, that the human and animal body can conform to. The work that I create has an affinity for the strange, awkward, and grotesque while always maintaining a strong sense of sincerity.

In the fall of 1985, Paul Kenneth was born in a log cabin nestled in the northern woods of Minnesota. Paul works predominantly in the medium of painting and drawing, but explores fiber arts as well. In 2010, Paul completed his BFA in the Advanced Painting Program from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has been included in group shows at LVL3 Gallery, Ebersmoore Gallery, Mana Contemporary, NEXT Art Chicago, and Mountain Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.

This show is the culmination of seven months of work and will constitute my largest series to date. It has been curated by the amazing Scott Renfro. We will be offering refreshments at the opening courtesy of Half Acre Brewing Co. For those of you who are not able to attend all of the paintings from this series will be on display and for sale online starting July 22nd.

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Tags: Chicago, Curious Kin, Jackson Junge Gallery, One Wall, paintings, Paul Kenneth, Scott Renfro, West Town