Steven Kenny

(United States)

SP: HOW DID YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN SURREALISM?
STEVEN: I consider myself having always been a surrealist - - - even before I was aware of surrealism as an artistic style or genre. From the time I began making art as a boy I was never truly satisfied presenting reality in a straight-forward manner.

SP: WHAT MEDIUMS DO YOU WORK IN?
STEVEN: I always work in oil. Usually on linen or canvas, but sometimes on masonite panels. There was a short period after graduating from art school that I worked in pastel but that was only for six months or so.

SP: WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON PRESENTLY?
STEVEN: Right now I'm preparing for a show in February at the Glass Garage Gallery in West Hollywood. The painting I am finishing depicts a woman with her arms raised above her head. Her hands are together, thumbs locked, with fingers extending outward to create a bird shape. Around her neck hangs a white dove, it's wings bound together by a cord. I'm also doing a somewhat tongue-in-cheek painting for a Halloween-themed show in October at a local gallery. But it's a painting I've wanted to do for a long time. It's a self-portrait as Satan. It refers to the idea that we can be our own worst enemy at times.

SP: WHERE DO YOU PAINT?
STEVEN: Geographically, my studio is located in my home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. It's an extremely rural area and the abundance of nature provides a lot of inspiration for my work. Physically, my studio is located in one of the upstairs bedrooms. It's a century-old farmhouse and the ceilings are less than seven feet high. When I moved in I had to shorten my easel to get it to fit!

SP: HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR CREATIVE / PAINTING PROCESS ?
STEVEN: My creative process varies widely. I may get ideas from images that I see in the course of my day, reading, meditating, or sketching. My painting process is always the same. Create a sketch, project it onto my canvas, and color it in (to put it crudely). But as I work on each piece new elements may find their way into the composition, or I may decide to remove ones that are already there.

SP: WHAT ARE YOUR PREFERRED SUBJECTS?
STEVEN: Generally my paintings incorporate one figure combined with elements from nature. Birds also appear in most of my work.

SP: WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL HISTORY WITH ART?
STEVEN: I didn't come from an artistic family but both my parents were very good with their hands. My father was always repairing something around the house and my mother made many of her own clothes. I didn't begin to study art until late in high school and my art teacher did his best to encourage me. At first I was planning to pursue forestry as a career but applied to art schools at the very last minute and went in that direction instead.

SP: HAVE YOU HAD A RECENT SHOW OR ONE UPCOMING?
STEVEN: I've always got work on display somewhere at any given time. Right now I'm part of a traveling group exhibition that began in Denmark, went on to The Netherlands, and is now in Nice. As I said, my next exhibition will be in West Hollywood in February. Locally there are two small galleries that always have something of mine on display.

question from previously featured artist José Roosevelt:
WHAT DOES SURREALISM MEAN TO YOU?
STEVEN: I should say that surrealism is only part of how I define what I do. True surrealism, in the strict sense, is the unrestrained release of the unconscious. As an artist, that's not the means that I employ when creating a painting. I believe very strongly in the power of the unconscious and rely on it heavily in my creative process, but I also spend a lot of time editing the imagery that eventually ends up in each piece. I think it's impossible for any artist not to be influenced by their unconscious mind. Any work of art is a reflection of the artists unconscious to one degree or another. But for me, as an artist and human being, I feel I have a responsibility to use my conscious mind to have a more intentional hand in the direction of my work.


To view more of Steven's work or contact him please visit his website

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