b. 1993
My name is Kevin Xiques and I am an artist based in Queens, NY. My paintings are visual diary entries. As a black person adopted into a white family in Vermont, my childhood was tangled between a rural white setting and an unnurtured black identity. In an attempt to seek clarity of my truth, my life has been dedicated to self discovery, and I utilize painting as a vessel to discover my whole self. Through unplanned intuitive mark making and gesture, my action or inaction informs my relationship with myself in the present moment; happiness, pain, love, and resentment all inhabit the world that I create on the canvas. When finished, a piece of myself is revealed, generated through an accumulation of intertwined gesture, shape, density, and color.
“These three paintings are part of a small body of work that examines spontaneity and immediacy. The foundation of this process was still rooted in unplanned, intuitive mark making and gesture, but rather than working over days/weeks/months, I completed each painting within a 24 hour period. I wanted to explore what it would look like to capture a single moment in time on the canvas.”
Q. If you could offer your younger self any advice at the start of your artistic career, what would it be?”
A. “As long as you stay curious, it is wise to paint within your comfort zone. Curiosity, lucky mistakes, and time are all you need to continue progressing your practice.”