KINKI TEXAS
The raw, somewhat unrefined appearance of these heroes and anti-heroes is matched by the roughness of the painterly gesture with which they have been captured by the German artist on the canvas or the paper: there is no trace here of a meticulous painting style; instead the works, large-scale canvases in vibrant colors, have a crude, garish finish. The visual motifs in Kinki Texas´ universe are characterised by their reference to landmark history, psychology, culture and art history.
The visual motifs are accompanied by written words, some of which have been sprayed on, others scratched or written with pen into the top layers of paint. The singing cowboys, warrior crusaders, bandaged partly skeletal figures) may appear to have been quickly dashed off, but have in fact been developed over a period of months if not longer. Their lengthy process of creation is only revealed on closer inspection, when the different stages of the picture’s evolution, it´s details, can gradually be traced.
While Kinki Texas has a very particular theme and subject matter in mind when he begins working on his pictures, he also reacts to what happens during the painting process and day of work, with the result that the development of the images can take unexpected and surprising turns. He paints, sprays, writes, wipes and scrapes away until he reaches a state where any additional painterly touch would overload the image, but any missing one would make it seem unfinished. It is all about the right balance in the chaos.
The heroic figures in “Kinki Texas Space” (this is what the artist calls his creative universe) which draws as much inspiration from the comic genre as it does from history books, employing means of depiction borrowed from graffiti and trash and punk culture as well as from centuries of history painting, their appearance ranges from slightly odd to truly bizarre and grim; some of them have a warlike and at times rather frightening demeanour; they confront the viewer with loaded guns, pose in suits of armour with swords drawn and chains or like Native Americans on horses with headdresses, bows and arrows.
Kinki Texas was born in 1969 in Bremen, Germany.
For more info visit the artists website: www.kinki-texas.com
