Ad Astra

Posted April 13, 2012 by KyleClements

Ad Astra is a fan-run Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Paranormal literary convention that Adam Smith of Toronto’s Site 3 Co-Laboratory was kind enough to invite Brad Blucher and I to participate in. Two images from our “Take a Picture” series were included in this show.

Due to scheduling conflicts, I was unable to attend the Ad Astra event itself, so I don’t have any photos from the event itself. More information about this even can be found on the Ad Astra website.

“Wink” From the “Take a Picture” series. Brad Blucher, Kyle Clements.

“Build a man a fire and he’s warm for a day; set a man on fire and he’s warm for the rest of his life” From the “Take a Picture series”. Brad Blucher, Kyle Clements.

Three Point Turn

Posted October 13, 2005 by KyleClements

Three Point Turn was held in OCAD’s Transit Space Gallery, and featured artist’s Brad Blucher, Kyle Clements, and Mark Zydaniuk.

I was still working on my Texture series at this time, including some oil/alkyd paintings that I had been working on for several years, building up countless layers of transparent paint. This labour-intensive technique creates a glowing pearlescent effect when the painting is viewed under the right lighting conditions. Unfortunately, Transit Space didn’t provide those lighting conditions, but it was still nice to have my work on display in Toronto

I was also working with acrylic at this time. Acrylic doesn’t have the same transparency as oil, so the glazing technique wasn’t nearly as impressive. I threw in some pearlescent pigments, and had a stronger pearl effect after 15 minutes than the oil paintings had after two years of work!

Installation Pictures

The plinth in the centre of the space presented a CD player, which contained Brad Blucher’s sound piece. You would not believe how much use Bard has gotten out of that plinth. He still has it to this day, and its been sanded and repainted so many times, it looks better today than it did when it was first constructed. Four of Mark Zydaniuk’s paintings can be seen in the background, along with one of mine on the right.

Brad Blucher takes a close look at one of my paintings. Brad, I miss the awesome hair!

The Kyle and Brad Show II: with Mark

Posted June 22, 2005 by KyleClements

Geometric Abstraction, 12″ X 12″ X 3″, Oil and Encaustic on Canvas, 2005.

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Geometric Abstraction, 12″ X 12″ X 3″, Oil and Encaustic on Canvas, 2005.

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Geometric Abstraction, 12″ X 12″ X 3″, Oil and Encaustic on Canvas, 2005.

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Geometric Abstraction, 12″ X 12″ X 3″, Acrylic on Canvas, 2005.

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Geometric Abstraction, 12″ X 12″ X 3″, Acrylic on Canvas, 2005.

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Geometric Abstraction, 12″ X 12″ X 3″, Acrylic on Canvas, 2005.

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Texture Series, 8″ X 10″, Acrylic on Canvas, 2005.

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Texture Series, 24″ X 24″, Acrylic on Canvas, 2005.

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Texture Series, Acrylic on Oak Pannel, 2005.

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Texture Series, 16″ X 16″, Oil and Encaustic on Canvas, 2005. SOLD

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Texture Series, Oil and Encaustic on Board, 2005.

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Texture Series, 16″ X 16″, Oil and Encaustic on Board, 2005.

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Event Photos

Collin spent quite a while in that corner, looking at every detail of my paintings.

This art show occurred while I was in the midst of my Texture Series. which explored surface quality and unconventional paint application techniques. Warm/cool, transparency/opacity and gloss/matte were the primary focus, rather than form or composition. Unfortunately, several of these traits, especially the gloss/matte contrast, cannot be accurately recreated in a photograph. The series is more successful in-person.

John Blaise and Brad Blucher, with Victoria Fenninger’s paintings in the background.

Heather Phillips, Kyle Clements, Victoria Fenninger, and Brad Blucher

Heather Phillips, Kyle Clements, Brad Blucher’s back, and John Blaise

The Kyle and Brad Show: A Premature Retrospective

Posted February 4, 2004 by KyleClements

For our very first commercial art show, Brad Blucher and I settled on the title “A Premature Retrospective for a number of reasons. We were not presenting a focused body of work, it was an eclectic collection of art that we had been working on for the last few years. It was sort of a retrospective of our work from high school and early University. Of course, having our very first show a “retrospective” is a little premature.

But the biggest reason for choosing this title was because… well, we found it kind of funny.

Kyle Clements and Brad Blucher soaking in the experience and schmoozing with the patrons at Y.O. Media gallery.

Bridge over Black River, Acrylic on canvas. 18″ X 24″, 2002 Dusk, Oil on canvas. 12″ X 16″, 2002

Diptych, Acrylic on canvas. 16″ X 48″, 2003

I was pretty obsessed with Gerhard Richter and Hans Hoffman in late high school and early university. In 2003, I think this obsession spilled over into just about everything I was painting. I was interested in the contrast between illusionistic space (perspective, shading, etc) and optical space (overlap, colour, texture). I was also interested in the integration of abstraction with representation.

Untitled, Acrylic on masonite, 2003.

This was an assignment where the class was required to make a collage, then make a painting based off of that image, and present the two side by side. I was never very good with collage materials and images, so I chose to make a digital collage. I found the experience very satisfying, and it came very easily to me. Little did I know that this kind of digital collage-making would become an integral part of my working process three years later.

Cubist Deconstruction of a Face, Acrylic on canvas, 36″ X 36″, 2004. SOLD