 |
|
Sign In
About kjartcenterKen Januski is an artist living and working in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Since 2006 he has created naturalistic works in pastel, charcoal and watercolor. In earlier years he also did pen and ink drawings of insects viewed under a dissecting microscope. Most of his naturalistic works are for sale here. During most of his career he worked abstractly and a few older abstract drawings are also for sale here.
Ken's move from abstract and non-objective work was due to the increasing amount of time he spent in nature, especially birdwatching, and to a dissatisfaction with the 'established' art world and its increasing reliance on verbiage as a raison d'etre for the work. Ken's primary site includes a more complete selection and explanation of his work but you cannot buy any art there. It also includes his abstract painting as well as larger and more detailed photos of his art work. Ken studied art at City College of San Francisco, University of California at Berkeley and Cornell University. He received M.A.and M.F.A.degrees from the latter. In recent years the vast majority of his work has been naturalistic, much of it related to the birds that he has seen, sketched in the field and photographed. Though most recent work is naturalistic the majority of work that Ken has done during his career is abstract. It has both incorporated nature and done its best to exclude nature at various times. Artists such as Stuart Davis, Mondrian, Kandinsky, Gorky, Matisse and Picasso had a large influence. While in California both Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff, with whom he studied, had a large influence. Though Ken continues to have a very strong liking for abstract work he has worked only in a naturalistic style for the last 5-10 years. Part of this was due to disenchantment with the art world over the last 15+ years. The better known and exhibited art seemed to rely far more on verbiage than actual visual accomplishment. It seemed both hollow and overhyped. Ken no longer felt any connection to it. He also has grown more concerned about the natural world, the disappearance of all sorts of natural resources(birds included), and the growing unfamiliarity with nature of more and more people. This has made the representation of nature seem all the more important to him. He feels it is drastically undervalued. Because of that it's most likely that his work will remain more naturalistic than abstract for a good long time. He regularly adds new work so come back regularly. All works are unframed except as noted. Ken writes about his current art, including much that is for sale here, in his blog about art and nature. |
|
|
