Kevin Pinkerton

A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE ARTIST

1. What do you do when you’re not making art? (Day job etc...).

Fortunately at this season in life I am able to make art full time. I enjoy fly fishing, kayaking, traveling, dining out, and visiting museums and galleries around the world.

2. Why do you make art?

I know it might sound like a cliché but it's just something I have to do. I have been creating art consciously since I was around 14 or 15 years old. I knew then that it was a way to express myself and the environment around me.

3. What inspires you?

I'm inspired by nature, the natural world and the cycles of growth and decay. I'm also inspired by literature, poetry, music and my environment and not so much by politics or social issues yet the environment has turned into a very politically charged subject as well as the social changes, so maybe unconsciously my work can lead to discussion about global warming and the challenges we face today.

4. What/who are your influences?

I would have to say my influences are very broad. I lived in Taiwan for 30 years. So Chinese calligraphy and Chinese landscape painting and technique has influenced my work. Artists like Chinese painter Chang Dai-chien or Zhang Daqian - 張大千 and contemporary painters and from the modern movement like Cy Twombly, Brice Marden, Willem de Kooning and Chinese French painter Zao Wou-Ki.

5. If you could meet anyone dead or alive who would it be?

This is a hard question to answer. There would be a dinner party with a guest list of four including myself. Ernest Hemingway, John Donne, Zao Wou-Ki and James Joyce.