Press Release

Robert Kingston's paintings consist of vast ivory white expanses punctuated by emerging muted colors, sketches, and textures embedded into the canvas. Kingston layers innumerable washes of acrylic through which clusters of geometric forms, pencil marks, swirls and other quick visual notes emerge. His distinctive markings are evident from quick takes of his surfaces, but it is through a slower read that the cursory gestures gain traction and the heart of his work materializes. The entire canvas is worked and worked again, eventually resolving into a series of canvases where the ephemeral is suspended and grounded in an opaque web of material.

These paintings stand as a visual record of Kingston's process which is spurred on by experiences and influences filtered through the act of painting. The artist smudges, scribbles and scratches away at the pigment using large gestural brushstrokes as well as dry brushstrokes, giving the works a textured tangibility and immediacy; it is not uncommon to find a paintbrush bristle or a scratch obscured by another layer of paint. These elements gather into highly considered compositions that create a balance between the gauzy, ethereal washes and more corporeal markings. Kingston's gritty process fosters elegant, airy compositions that suggest ancient narratives and mythologies, while remaining fresh and lyrical.