Michael Kennedy

Art Brokerage: Michael Kennedy American Artist: b. 1941-1993. His abstract paintings of the 1970's most often on large sheets of paper, combined broad color areas – and an occasional "window" resembling the loose geometric structures of Diebenkorn – with softly stroked, gestural surfaces that recalled the lyrical abstraction of Philip Guston. Kennedy began painting early, as a participant in the California School of Fine Arts' pre-college class for gifted high school students. In 1959, when he entered the school's regular college program, he found himself truly in his element. He readily absorbed the lessons of his teachers Frank Lobdell and Jack Jefferson, as evidenced by the monumental scale, dramatically intersecting organic forms, heavy impasto surface, and earth-toned palette of. About 1970, Kennedy initiated a considerable about-face: He switched from oil to acrylic. Moreover, while he occasionally continued to tackle large paintings on canvas, he focused his attention on 25 x 30" sheets of paper. With this change in materials, Kennedy finds his own voice. The rapid-drying acrylic facilitated the artist's fast-paced working style of building up the surface. The paint's thinness helped Kennedy to maintain a transparence that became central to his art. The paper size fit him perfectly. In Kennedy's hands the roughly 2 x 2.5 dimensions convey both the authority of a much larger painting and the intimacy of a drawing page. Listings wanted.