Artist Statement
“For me, painting is a way of seeing the world in a new way. I work mostly in the genre of Naturalism, and the subjects I tend to be drawn to are what most would consider ordinary: a bowl of plums, a pair of legs, a quiet corner in a room. I’ve found that when I sit with these subjects for long enough, however, my perspective on them begins to shift. As I come to know the subject I’m working with, my understanding of how best to represent that subject changes as well. Some of my work happens quickly – the way a person might scurry to write down the most lucid elements of a dream Others unfold over many years, a kind of conversation between old and distant friends. My hope is always to leave the viewer with a more complicated understanding of the world, to see the ordinary in a new way. I want my viewers to walk past my work, and then circle back. I want them to slow down, to think about the way the light sits higher up on the face of the girl than they would have expected, to think about the way the plums are, perhaps, not a fruit so much as a juxtaposition. Mostly, though, I want to offer my viewers a sense that the moment they see is one of a great number of other moments, a narrative that extends well before and well after the one I’ve captured.”
Andrea Kemp is a contemporary painter She was born and raised in the roaring fork valley where she first began her formal art training During her formative years she studied in various institutions and through private mentorship. After completing her training she returned to Colorado and currently resides in Golden CO, with her family.
