Ke'vin painting out front of his favorite Montana gallery, Going To The Sun Gallery.
|
Ke'vin West Bowers (pronounced Kee-vin) was born in Havre, MT, is a North Idaho native and a Santa Fe, NM transplant. Like many artists he felt that when he crossed the state line into New Mexico, he was home. While living in Idaho, his work was representative of the Southwest. After being in Santa Fe, his work now encompasses the people, animals, and architecture of New Mexico and surrounding areas.
For more than thirty five years Ke’vin has been working from all subjects and mediums. It has been in the last few years that he has been concentrating in acrylics. His favorite subjects are the female form, desert cactus, and animals. While some artists are plein-air painters, Ke’vin is and always will be a studio painter. This is mainly due to not being able to paint inside the Kiva’s and the missions or getting trampled either by pigs, buffalo or zebras. Ke’vin honed his skills as a contemporary painter when he transplanted to Santa Fe, NM. Over the years he has come to realize how important these lessons have played in his life, from teaching to painting - every aspect has been affected by what he learned in that wonderful city. Ke’vin has found a close connection to his work, not only from painting but because of the actual manufacturing process, making his surfaces and paint - taking it old school. There was a reason the old masters made everything in their studios and why so many had large groups of apprentices. The quality and mastery of materials is shown in the paintings and sculptures they produced. In this way Ke’vin lives by example. For many years he manufactured his pastels and primers. He also did custom picture framing for more than 25 years. His deep understanding of the importance of this example shows itself even in the simplest form - the pig. Ke'vin creates art his studio in Apache Junction, Arizona |