Mark Kang-O’Higgins
February 2014 | Gallery4Culture
Intense
February 6-27, 2014
Opening: First Thursday, February 6, 2014 from 6:00PM to 8:00PM
Gallery4Culture is pleased to present Mark Kang-O’Higgins in Intense, a solo exhibition of large-scale oil on canvas portraits firmly rooted in the figurative tradition. In both his work as a teacher and a painter, his mission is to be actively engaged in a contemporary art dialogue through the creative form of Expressive Figurative Painting. The paintings and works on paper presented in this exhibition are depictions of individuals from the artist’s inner circle – wife, children, close friends – captured at a critical, watershed moment in their life. Even though the artist knows the sitters, his aim is to universalize them as characters; they become representatives of the human condition and highlight the emotions and experiences we all have in common.
"I strive to find the universal in each place or person, whether that is an aspect of their personality, or the emotions that they are experiencing or the situation they are in. In this way, I hope the images strike a chord with others so that the viewer can see something of us all in each piece."
About the Artist
Mark Kang-O’Higgins was born and raised in Ireland. He has since lived and worked in Edinburgh, Scotland and New York City. Mark Kang-O’Higgins now lives and works in the Northwest. Since 2004, he has a studio at the Gage Academy of Art where he runs the Kang-O’Higgins Drawing and Painting Atelier. Students study there with him and learn traditional and contemporary drawing and painting techniques. Kang-O’Higgins also teaches drawing and painting at Digipen Institute of Technology. He works as a gallery and commission artist, creating narrative, portrait, still life and landscape pieces.