Fields Painting

BIO Missouri artist Keith Kavanaugh sees a connection between the spontaneity of jazz and the act of painting. Working in the ancient medium of encaustic, each landscape is an improvisation on his memory of a place in time. While they may look traditional at first glance, a closer inspection reveals the rich surface and translucent layers unique to melted beeswax. Influenced by the Tonalists, Kavanaugh works with a palette of muted colors to reconstruct the ambiguous memories of places he frequents. As a working jazz musician for 30 years, Kavanaugh is intimately familiar with the the process of improvising and the Zen state of mind cultivated to create something in the moment. In an aural medium one can often “hear” colors in various sound sources or harmonies, while in a visual medium it’s not unusual to “see” rhythmic patterns or dissonant layers of color. Kavanaugh explores this intersection of the mediums through quick application of paint to panel, not knowing where it may take him but enjoying the journey just the same.