Kevin Ledwith 

 

Statement

Through the past few years I have developed a strong affiliation with painting and drawing. My favoured medium to work within is Oil paint on linen canvas. I have found linen canvas much more rewarding compared to previously working on cotton or a linen/cotton mix. The linen itself holds such a strong quality and the grain of the material holds and maintains a quality of paint that I personally prefer. I only prime my work with rabbit skin glue and leave other areas where I have not painted untouched and open.

 

My work portrays the human being as an isolated yet complex character through portraiture. Each work aims to portray the subject’s inner most character and thoughts while avoiding a narrative given there is only one person per piece. This can allow the viewer and audience to formulate their views and opinions on the person staring back at them from the canvas. I believe that they can create their own outlook even if greatly different to my own hope for the portrayal. The notion of the preconceived resonates with me personally and my previous work has touched on this notion. How the world sees a person and reacts to them at first glance then turning that initial view on its head and creating a new image of the person is an intriguing challenge I will explore further.

 

Artists such as Freud, Auerbach, Dürer ,Manet, late Renaissance masters through to the contemporary artists of today like Yishai Jusidman, all of whom influence my own way of thinking, have all portrayed the human being as the focal point of study in their works. Creating different perceptions and views of a personality and character is the challenge they set out to overcome and it is this challenge which I work to portray through my own methods and practice too.