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Health & Fitness

An Artist In Brooklyn

A Brooklyn artist defies description—this is not your mother's expressionism.

I am down with six degrees coming between myself and Kevin Bacon, but what are the odds of finding yourself a stone's throw from an artist who could only, reasonably, be placed in the company of some of the greatest expressionist and post-modern artists of all time? 

I hate it when genius has to drop over dead (most artists seem to enjoy praise and glory only post-mortem) before genius is recognized and, at the risk of seeming overly excited, this Sloper artist is crazy good.

For a truly close up and personal experience with Kevin Lawler's art, you can visit his next exhibit at Greenpoint Gallery in early September (exact date to be announced).  You can get on the mailing list and/or give Shawn James a shout out via greenpointgallery@gmail.com.

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About a year ago, I was taking my dog Shana out for her nightly pee when I noticed a shadowy figure perched on the stoops of a brownstone a few houses down. He was very still with an aura of intelligence and deep thought. Rarely does anyone vibe with that much intensity. There is way too much Eat Pray Love  going around the Slope for my taste.  I was intrigued. 

After a few nights of friendly hellos and introductions ("This is my dog, I'm your neighbor), it turned out this fellow recognized me from DNA, and I had been taking classes with his girlfriend, Nancy, for at least a year.  I knew her face, so we had that in common.  Five degrees.  A few days later I "met" Nancy officially—out of dance rags and more formal introductions—and so a nice neighborly rapport came to pass.

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I learned that Kevin was a serious artist—what a great duo. They both had a quiet strength but ability to laugh. Nice; dancer and artist.

I asked if he had a website to view his work.  Does he ever.  I almost gasped to see the art behind the artist.  Shocking. Eery. Scary.  But full of a sharp mystery and even a kind of divine strength.  Miserable portraits tinged with nihilistic exclamation.  Art that takes the cold, hard facts to a piercing resolve.  Visual dissonant notes being played loud and strong on the canvas.

If art reflects life, it transforms it too.  In Buddhist thought, the first principle is acceptance.  You can’t find truth if you start out with a lie.  Life is not all happy endings,  Crazy, Stupid Love, or Friends With Benefits.  Sometimes its gut wrenching, heart-breaking and 400 Blows. If you've read my blog over the past couple of months, you can't say I lie.

Here are Kevin’s answers to a few of the questions I sent asking to talk a little about himself, his art, his work:

My full name is Kevin Comerford Lawler.  I was in DC for a long time, and before that I lived in Windsor Terrace. At this point I pretty much just do oil on canvas, but I'll work with whatever is available. Mainly oil on canvas though.

I've always been interested in art, I was enrolled in figure drawing and painting classes when I was 11, I had to get a waver from my parents for all the nudity, but I was pretty mature about it.  But after college, which was Pratt, I guess I wasn't sure about myself, and took a job restoring gilded objects. I guess it’s been about 10 years of serious art making, i.e., I started making art at every chance I could, after work and on weekends daily.

My Mom used to take me to the National Gallery in DC, and I always preferred drawing as a pass time when I was very young.  I always excelled in art, and was chosen to do backdrops for school plays and things like that.  I've always had a semi social side, but would spend and do spend hours alone drawing and painting now.  Its one of the few things that really keeps me focused.

My girlfriend's name is Nancy, she is very supportive of me.

The artists that seriously impacted me growing up are, Egon Schiele, Max Beckman, Oskar Kokoschka, Picasso, Max Ernst, Paul Klee.

The recurring theme I guess is turn of the 20th century art. It was just an interesting time full of innovation. In terms of contemporary art, I was into Basquiat as a teenager, but grew out of it. There are a few painters now. But none that are consistently blowing me away.

Oh yeah I'm 32, was that helpful?

One of Kevin’s favorite artists, Max Ernst, was described as “imaginative, productive, caustically witty, fierce, and enigmatic.  A master of commanding lines and earthy textures, metamorphosing dream world in which ferocity and beauty intertwine in a potent vision of life's paradoxes and magic…”  The very same can be said of Kevin Lawler.

If you’d like to exhibit or view his work, check out the upcoming show at The Greenpoint Gallery. Private shows can be arranged by contacting Kevin at Kev_Lawler@yahoo.com  (That is Kev{underscore}Lawler@yahoo.com)

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