Image #81 - Sand Painting

Kearns most recent Series of Artworks appear as minimalist fields of colour composed of highly textured paint, incorporating subtle “word thoughts” embedded through the middle of the paintings. These word images contain the letter “i” at their centre which is emphasized and intended to symbolize - and simultaneously double as — a Person. Sequential numbering continues to run throughout Kearns’ practice as a quiet structural device, marking continuity and progression across time. Each number functions as a trace of a moment within an evolving process, linking individual works into a larger, cumulative exploration of perception, identity, and lived experience. Cliff Kearns has also Interpreted and Painted actual Numbers as Geometric Abstract Art! Numbers are simple in form, yet complex in meaning. They measure just about everything!  NUMBERS pervade our days and often dictate our life direction and self worth. Life and, in fact, Art can become a Numbers Game.’ When not creating individual numerals from zero to nine as unique finished paintings in their own right, Kearns has been been incorporating sequential numbering into all his series of personal fine art works beginning with IMAGE Number One about 20 years ago. Relatively obvious in the colorful Celebrity Series and his first two hundred or so paintings and constructions, it is more subtle but still there in his recent impactful Diamond Series #212 - #225. This becomes an important marker in tracking his history and evolution as an artist. As an over arching theme, the numbering helps to hold this journey of discovery together. Another subtle underlying take away is a conceptual inference that the commoditization of Art becomes the measure of one's success... and minute by minute - time is passing us by.  Kearns comes to this mid career of visual self expression after graduating from the Special Art Program at H.B. Beal in London ON Canada and a formidable career in the Art departments. of London Life Insurance Co., 3M Co., The London Free Press and as Art Director of CFPL-TV. He then began a solo career working as a freelance illustrator and commissioned artist. Thirty five years saw Cliff create and produce an eclectic array of creative design and illustrative work for high profile publishers and corporations such as General Motors of Canada, Canadian General Electric, Proctor & Gamble, TD Canada Trust, The university of Western Ontario and 3M Co.