Kenneth Winterschladen
Kenneth Winterschladen at South Parade
Project Info
- đ South Parade
- đ South Parade
- đ€ Kenneth Winterschladen
- đ Ted Targett
- đ Corey Bartle Sanderson
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As ever-flowing ideas repeat in his brain, thoughts darting from one to the next, Kennethâs paintings await their next move. For him, painting is what the matchbox is to a match â igniting endless possibilities before quickly diminishing into the ether. Painted on oval-shaped boards and canvases protruding with various appurtenances, influence creeps through gaps left ajar in his mind â snapshots of birds and skies taken by his father or him from his hometown in Chesapeake Bay, for example, or illustrations from a First Aid book saved while helping a family member clear their house. He uses whatâs at hand to build scenes anew, the elements often frantically stockpiled on the desk of his pokey studio, quietly awaiting their turn.
Kennethâs intuition for painting means his plans and revisions are forged directly on the surface, rarely surrendering to too much reasoning or doubt. They map both the trails heâs walked with brush and in life; as youâll notice motifs of an endlessly entwining spiderâs web in âLast Walkâ or the converging of planets in âProjection (for N. Fyodorov)â, echoing a never ending cycle. To him, a board or canvas opens up a microcosm of possibility where nature is altered to fit his criteria. Windows of incongruously sized birds or landscapes from his burgeoning collection adorn the surfaces, as other mirrored and metal portholes reflect the movements of the onlooker. The sky is an all-consuming feature of Kennethâs paintings â heâll use materials as stand ins for distant twinkling stars in âProjectionâ or frequently divide his compositions by horizon lines in âAcĂ©phaleâ. In the same way our eyes adjust their focus when day turns to night, his paintings inspire orbiting and close attuning to the abrasive textures up close; each painting inspiring a curiosity and child-like ingeniousness about our vast universe.
The exhibition is titled âDivinity (sic)â - ,â(sic)â being a Latin term editors use to indicate an exact transcription of an erroneous original. So, he asks, are these paintings, or the natural worlds they depict, evidence of a higher power? His processes replicate the titleâs structure â collaging and forging found materials to authorise them as his own. Motifs of moons and suns will often nestle their way in, reminders of Earthâs shiftings and timeâs passing, as heâll make other more abstracted marks over various sittings. Heâll mix oils with shavings of jute or dirt from his floor, the impasto effect resembling specks of moss on trees; or otherwise heâll dilute paints in turpentine and thinner, seemingly freezing scenes under a winter frost. Kenneth works best under such contradictions â âsetting up problems to work againstâ as he describes it. Whether itâs the transitioning of day to night, awake to sleep or life to death â they take place as one, in harmony. This is an idea adopted by the Surrealists, too, notably in Andre Bretonâs, âCommunicating Vesselsâ, a favourite of Kennethâs. Breton borrowed his title from a scientific experiment: when two varyingly sized jars are joined by a tube, the gas or liquid passing through each will always rise to the same level. Kennethâs paintings ponder this balancing act, too â celebrating life for all its awe and anguish, as he asks, âcan a painting exist as a time machine, a window, a novel, a sentence, a film, all at once?â
In previous paintings, heâll make known this longing to sense what he canât entirely grasp â as a hand might reach out to the sky, or an ear awaits a story. Here, he plots his routes to discovery with brush, but turns to various adornments to determine his path: metal grommets, rope and door knobs puncturing the surfaces. These accoutrements aid in negotiating an ending that is entirely Kennethâs own, compiled only from what earth has supplied him. Until the cycle turns, with new findings and aspirationsâŠ
Written by Ted Targett
Kenneth Winterschladen (b. 1993, Washington D.C, USA) lives and works in London. He graduated from the Royal College of Art (MA Painting) in 2020. Recent selected group exhibitions include Pathways on Paper, South Parade (London, 2022), One Piece (184 Franklin, New York, 2022, curated by Daisy Sanchez), The Gnosis Show (online, 2021, curated by Tosia Leniarska), 50/50, Fold Gallery (London, 2020), Autumn Yield and Bridget Riley Studios, (London, 2019). Kenneth will be in an upcoming group show curated by Ted Targett at Recent Activity (Birmingham), opening 7 October.
Ted Targett