Kim English

Backstage Pass

2021

Kim English depicts in his paintings the simple beauty found in daily life. Known for his mastery of chiaroscuro, each piece speaks to the true focus of English's inspiration, the harmony existing between light and shadow. His subject matter, ranging from a street-side fruit stand in Mexico to a sun-filled window, creates a particular mood, through which the viewer is introduced to charming scenarios that are wrapped in depth and texture, and are entirely about paint. This is the primary force of English's painting: the astonishing manipulation of his medium. Kim English explores and creates visual observations of everyday life capturing the human spirit on canvas. He maintains a feeling of spontaneity by completing each painting in one sitting the alla prima method. He says of using this method, Immediacy is important. Not only because it is often the nature of people, but for me, it is the most instinctive way to paint. English was born in 1957 in Omaha, Nebraska and raised in a rural community near Colorado Springs. After graduation from the Rocky Mountain School of Art, he joined the faculty and later began teaching at the Art Students League of Denver and the Scottsdale Artists School. He has exhibited at the Allied Artists of America winning the Gold Medal of Honor; the National Academy of Design; the Artists of America-Denver Rotary Club; NAWA 21st Annual Exhibition; Arts for the Parks; the Colorado Governor's Invitational – Loveland Museum; the A.R. Mitchell Memorial Museum of Western Art; The Knickerbocker 42nd Annual Exhibition; the Oil Painters of America and won both the Certificate of Merit and the Joseph Hartley Memorial Award at two Salmagundi Club Exhibitions.