Ryan Akerley

Filling In

2020

Kevin Kearns' landscapes come from a place where memory, reality and imagination are combined. They are atmospheric, sensual and continue to evolve over time, allowing the viewer a glimpse into his world. And we are invited to dream, fly over, walk around, live in and contemplate that world – seductive, enticing and coming from very specific memories of places that have fascinated Kearns, whether it be the Hudson Valley where his current studio is located or places like the New England seacoast, Iceland and Europe. The resulting landscape images are full of light, space, color, softly undulating hills that disappear and reappear and broad expansive skies, and yet little sense of human presence or architecture. They combine a strong sense of the abstract with the organic, essentially allowing nature to be nature. The oil paint is allowed to drip, build up, or be scraped back, resulting in the totality of the final image to evoke a variety of qualities that tap into Kearns' very personal responses to the subject matter. Born in Boston and raised on the New Hampshire seacoast, Kearns studied at the Art Institute of Boston and went on to a successful career as an illustrator, Art Director, Designer and Creative Director. His work received numerous awards and accolades, including multiple Cannes Lions, One Show awards. New York Art Director awards, London International Awards an Emmy nomination, and was published in prestigious award show...

"My work is often described as realism, and sometimes photorealism, but I don’t think of it that way. I do use photographs as reference, and the finished paintings have a photographi...

Eleanor Jones Harvey, Chief Curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, writes about Bob Stuth-Wade: “Over the course of his career, Bob Stuth-Wade has examined his responses to life through landscape, still life, portraiture, and abstraction. Restlessly creative, he has explored these varied genres with equal concentration…..” Bob Stuth-Wade’s method of painting is uniquely his own, having taught himself technique; his only formal training was as a teenager with Dallas artist Perry Nichols...

Eleanor Jones Harvey, Chief Curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, writes about Bob Stuth-Wade: “Over the course of his career, Bob Stuth-Wade has examined his responses to life through landscape, still life, portraiture, and abstraction. Restlessly creative, he has explored these varied genres with equal concentration…..” Bob Stuth-Wade’s method of painting is uniquely his own, having taught himself technique; his only formal training was as a teenager with Dallas artist Perry Nichols...