Kim Van Do: Outside In
October 29 - November 23, 2024
Opening Reception Nov. 2nd, 2-5 pm
Outdoor painter, Kim Do, will be in residence,
making paintings in the gallery
during the course of the show.
(additionally, Kim’s atypical inventions will be on display.)
Kim Do Summer Moves On oil on linen 2023 58x78"
Blue Mountain Gallery is, once again, pleased to present the work of observational painter
Kim Van Do. Mr. Do’s works are wholly realized while he stands in the landscape, reacting in wild wonder to the subtle shifts in weather, light, time, and color. The results are often quite naturalistic, or filled with information gathered in hundreds of quick analytic gazes. Some may say the word “detailed”, but Mr. Do prefers the term “small structures”. The difference is seeing an ever expanding relationship to the whole, rather than simply repetitive small marks.
Other of his paintings hearken back to heroes of abstract expressionism, where the image takes more of a back seat to the activity of the paint and the freedom of the brush. Some say it’s ill-advised to work in different styles. That is often associated with creating a marketable product, and Mr. Do does not aim so much for a market as for a connection with the earth.
As the artist enters into the late fullness of his painting career he feels the mystical imbuing the process more and more. Physical and psychic energies meld almost as in a waking trance. He has often said he stands before the canvas and watches as a person makes a painting.
In addition to the more traditional landscape views, the artist will share various series of smaller works painted on unexpected surfaces, and with a playfulness that reflects his seriously comic side.
The artist will be painting in the gallery during the show, with various friends, musicians, actors, dancers, poets, and other creatives. There will be portraits, site specific works, jam sessions featuring Kim on his handmade watermelon guitar and vocals, and an ever evolving show over the course of the exhibition’s weeks. There will be the exhibition, and the exhibition about the exhibition.