Same

Everything is uncertain all the time. More than 90% of the known universe is made up of subatomic space dust that is imperceptible and is expanding at a rate faster than the speed of light. Normal matter, our reality, accounts for less than 10% of everything, meaning we are existing in a narrow band of reality. So the percentage of what can be observed and is known is constantly diminishing, as the rate of expansion of what is unknown and imperceptible is far greater than our rate of discovery. This is all to say that reality can be a bit slippery.

What I’ve been thinking about lately is that at a microscopic, and at an even smaller level, everything is made up of the same things. Somehow all of the particles get together and say we are all going to be a tree, a rock, a banana, a flower, a chair, a person. They could, just as easily, all get together and decide not to be those things. At a certain point, all of those atoms could be anything. So in some ways everything is the same, and at the same time, everything is different. In my paintings, I am interested in sustaining an awareness of this constant transient state.

Same

Compressed air is pumped into the spray gun at 75 psi. The painter pulls the trigger, which atomizes and expels the paint in the reservoir. It moves through space as a vapor, and transforms into a liquid upon contact with the panel. It remains liquid for a time, moving around subject to the effects of gravity and doing things unexpected to the painter. It is an indeterminate mess. Eventually it dries and becomes a solid, memorializing this interval of flux. The painter applies more paint with a brush or  airbrush. As areas of color begin to coalesce on the panel, they begin to transform into a picture: of a leg, a petal of a flower, or a cast shadow. As they emerge, they are either enhanced or rejected by the painter. Between mass and space there is a kind of interpenetration. It is not a straight line. There is overpainting, wiping out, destruction, and addition, until the painter feels that the image is sufficiently real. The images and objects emerge and dissolve as they are remembered, experienced, and internalized by the painter. They surface through the haze of memory.

- Kevin Ford

12.26 is pleased to present Same Same, an exhibition of recent paintings by Connecticut-based artist, Kevin Ford.

Using a combination of brushwork and airbrushing, Kevin Ford blends the languages of Spanish still lifes, symbolism, cartoons and abstraction to bring a sense of historic urgency to overlooked, everyday objects. Kevin received his BFA in Painting from Boston University and his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale. His work has been exhibited widely including at Kate Werble (New York), Casey Kaplan (New York), Tops Gallery (Memphis, TN), and Semiose Galerie (Paris). His work has been featured in V Magazine, included in the book Artists II, published by Steidl, and has been reviewed in the New York Times and Artforum among other publications.