"Ankle Deep" featured at OkEq in July
Artist Kevin Thompson’s Ankle Deep…an Experience in Acrylics is featured in the July Oklahomans for Equality First Thursday reception and exhibit at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center.
After 25 years in the salon business, including owning and managing Salon DiVago for the past 12 years, Kevin Thompson's artistic process is very much the same as his approach to hair and color design. As an artist, Kevin has learned that he reaches the most satisfactory aesthetic when he takes guidance from a client and then meshes his years of experience to reach the final outcome. Envisioning the outcome and then backing up step-by-step to reach the end result is part of his creative process. Using this method in painting, Thompson approaches the canvas with a strong idea of how it will look and then plans the steps necessary for the final product.
Growing up in Oklahoma has influenced his artwork. One of his earliest childhood memories was taking cover with his brothers in the hallway as a tornado approached their tiny, three-bedroom house in Catoosa, Oklahoma. The memory holds a mixture of fear and joy; although he and his brothers were hiding in the hallway, they had too much fun to be scared by the narrow miss of a tornado. Tapping into both pleasant and unpleasant memories from his childhood has greatly influenced Thompson’s art. While working on a large abstract painting, he began to see the form of a man – that visage reminded him of his near drowning in an area Oklahoma lake where he was saved by a man swimming nearby.
Thompson’s foray into art was serendipitous. After he and his husband, Michael Berglund, finished the eight-year-long restoration of their home in Tulsa’s Historic Brady Heights neighborhood, they sold and moved to Tulsa’s Mayo Building. Once Kevin got settled into a world of zero-projects, restlessness set in. He had previously enjoyed a painting class with local artist Matt Moffett so his husband suggested he set up a studio in the second bedroom of their apartment. After painting a new piece, friends encouraged him to paint more and shoot for a showing during one of Tulsa’s very popular First Friday Art Crawls. After completing 18 paintings for his show titled Inception, Thompson was on his way. Several paintings sold and several art enthusiasts gave him commissions for private pieces.
To Thompson, art is a representation of life that's happening all around us. “As a people we aren't happy all the time--or sad, for that matter.” His mission as an artist is to fill his canvas with feeling and emotion while taking the viewer on a journey of their own making – though it is a shared feeling for him as he tends to connect on an emotional level with the pieces he creates. His approach to painting differs depending on the piece; he is often inspired by a client or a vision or feeling he’s had. He is currently painting with acrylics – his favorite medium.
Although he doesn’t paint on a full time basis, his desire is for his work to be seen as often as possible. Recently, Thompson has been lucky to have been asked by a few people to paint a piece for them and he really enjoys the exhilaration of the process and, of course, The Reveal. It’s very much like his professional life where his desire is to create something special for clients and watch their reactions.
The show begins with a reception on Thursday, July 2 from 6-9pm where there will be a door prize drawn of the artist’s work; the show continues throughout the month. The Dennis R. Neill Equality Center is located at 621 E. 4th Street, in downtown Tulsa.
Founded by a dedicated group of volunteers in 1980, Oklahomans for Equality/OkEq is Oklahoma’s oldest gay rights organization. From testing for HIV/AIDS and hosting the annual Tulsa Pride and Diversity Celebration to operating the Equality Center and documenting the Tulsa LGBT community’s rich history, OkEq works for social justice and full inclusion for Oklahoma’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens and their allies. For more information, see www.okeq.org
Published 6/28/2015 by The Gayly @ 10:02 am, CST.