Kevin Michael Keul
Image GalleryArtist Statement
By creating layers referencing observed shifting formations of terrain over time, my work aims to draw attention to the ever evolving markings made to landscape through consumption and manufacturing. Taking inspiration from shapes sourced through satellite images and aerial photographs, my work is created through an abstract approach with materials rooted in construction such as steel, iron and plywood. Each shape is individually treated with paint, burnt with welding spots, etched into with raw lines, and at times coated with resin. Directly referencing recorded shapes from our current landscape, rusted metals and treated plywood pieces interplay with chalk paint in a more gestural and intuitive process merging color with form. Embedded into plywood, stark white panels securely hold the various formations within my newly created abstract landscapes. These select industrial materials allude to the transformation of raw material into new manufactured landscapes.
Observing these “man” made shapes intentionally from a distance through these digital tools allows me to explore not only the distance we may relate to the landscape as a society immersed in technology, but also questions the separation we may have to the actual dirt beneath our feet. From fracking and salt ponds, rectangular formations in farm fields, circular patterns resulting in irrigation fields, my work observes the new constructions of our landscape.
