On Exhibit
I was born in Phoenix Arizona and other than four years in Flagstaff while attending Northern Arizona University, have lived there all my life. My aunt was an artist and art instructor and made a lasting impact on my childhood psyche. I have drawn and painted all my life. I received a Bachelor's Degree from Northern Arizona University in History and English Literature with emphasis in The Arts. I currently reside in Peoria, Arizona with my wife and two youngest daughters.
I am purpose driven and must paint. I painted my first oil when I was four and a half years old, but my passion is watermedia, including watercolor, acrylic and mixed media. I have evolved as an artist in a direction which expresses best that which I have to convey. In years past I was cautious and meticulous, making preliminary drawings, value studies, sometimes using grids and projectors and hours of execution.?This works for some but I found by the time I actually started painting or somewhere during the process, I had lost the emotion and inspiration I had when I started and the work was stagnant, void of emotion. In contrast I now work in a manner that keeps me emotionally receptive and interactive with the surface throughout the process as I strive for an aesthetic that correlates it, albeit relative and subjective.
I start paintings without preconception other than vague thoughts in my mind that I will attempt to translate. These thoughts have to do with anything and everything that I have observed in life, but hopefully the translation goes a little further than my personal bias. I simply start painting, initially putting down color and maybe adding texture and lines, then observation. I push and pull the paint; I take away something and add something else, often leaving traces of the under-painting punctuating the surface with exclamations of the process. I spend much time looking at works in progress. I look for relevant images to emerge and work with them directing a composition, layering a variety of shapes, value and movement that will engage the viewer in an emotional response. Sometimes I'll think of a possible title and repeat it in my mind as I paint. I know that sounds a bit crazy but it helps me focus on the objective. I'm not opposed to dripping, scraping, scratching, stamping, lifting, splattering, blowing or rubbing to achieve a desired response. I am an expressionist.
I am represented in private, public and corporate collections and have exhibited in local, regional, national and international juried exhibitions, including The Arizona Artists Guild, The Arizona Watercolor Association (Spring, Fall and National), Contemporary Watercolorists of Arizona, The Western Federation of Watercolor Societies and The San Diego Watercolor Society's International exhibition. I have won numerous awards, recently including 1st Place in watermedia at the Glendale Arts Council 45th Annual Juried Fine Arts Exhibit 2008, Best of Show at the 37th Annual Contemporary Watercolorists of Arizona Exhibition 2008, Best of Show at the Arizona Watercolor Association's 2009 Spring Exhibition, Award of Excellence at the 34th Annual Western Federation of Watercolor Societies Exhibition 2009, Award of Excellence at the Arizona Watercolor Association's 2010 Spring Exhibition and the David Gale Memorial Award (2nd place) at the 35th Annual Western Federation of Watercolor Societies Exhibition 2010.
stankurth.com
watermediaworks.blogspot.com
stan.kurth@gmail.com
(623) 533-1580
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