DON KILPATRICK, III
PROCESS // PROGRESS
DON KILPRATRICK, III
PROCESS // PROGRESS MARCH 25 - APRIL 23, 2022
M CONTEMPORARY ART 205 EAST 9 MILE FERNDALE, MI 48220 MCONTEMPORARYART.COM
Simple at the Root by Nichole M. Christian Let me tell you a story. Let me show you a journey. This is possibly how the artist Don Kilpatrick—if he were more at ease at describing the indescribable—might begin to unravel the invisible threads and silent, yet sly intentions at work in his new solo show “Process / Progress.” This collection of figurative paintings and hand-carved linoleum and woodcut prints is focused, like the artist, on the long view, a journey that finds Kilpatrick comfortably blending, even blurring the lines between years of nose-tothe-grindstone study and a more recent recommitment to creative freedom. Deciding which force is greater, if it must be determined at all, is a question that belongs to the viewer. What is unquestionable is Kilpatrick’s technical excellence and ability to weave, almost seamlessly, between painting and printmaking.” Both these mediums can’t get really complicated,’’ he explains, “but at the root, they’re pretty simple and visually profound.’’ Johnny Cash himself might marvel at the intensity that comes popping to life in a three-color block woodcut tribute print. Kilpatrick’s vision of The Man in Black is both stark and soft thanks to a fusion of violet, blue-violet, and black. This is textbook printmaking and a beguiling example of how effortlessly Kilpatrick the painter (he’s a trained illustrator too) seems to flip between his chosen art mediums. His fluidity is evident in the levels of the details and composition choices all shining equally without apparent preference. Shadows in the prints catch the eye as vividly as those that draw viewers deeper into his paintings. If there’s an obvious through line between the prints and the paintings, perhaps it’s a masterful understanding of the dimensions of color. Kilpatrick knows what he knows and he shows the way color’s many hues, in the right hands, can become a sort of liquid language. The paintings are purposefully small, none larger than 11 x 14 inches, yet expansive and evocative moods move through each of them. Night and day and that golden hour in between are front-and-center muses in these works. Light is both a radiant and a muted spark. And if the varied ranges selected for such small scale work isn’t alone intriguing, Kilpatrick does the equivalent of a visual mic drop, by incorporating his specific color swatch along the left side of each painting, giving his viewer all the more reason to lean in. Yes, he did that, and so very well. Though the use of colors captivates, it is in a way the least of what Kilpatrick wants you to see and possibly feel. Pull in close and one discovers a subtle yet daring sameness as a
theme. Kilpatrick’s eye is locked on good old ordinary slices of life, scenes so ordinary they could be understandably overlooked or lazily labeled artless. “We’re in an era where everyone is perfecting the art of distraction, but visually there’s still so many things right in front of us every day just to look at,’’ he says. “I don’t have to travel 2,000 miles to find something unexpected or beautiful.’’ Noteworthy too is the fact that exploring the ordinary as source material is not sudden for Kilpatrick. These works took shape first in a sketchbook and pay tribute to a personal 15-year monk-like practice of filling sketchbook-after-sketchbook with drawings of the world he moves through. “I’ve always been interested in taking something common and trying to elevate and show the importance,’’ he says. The streets of Detroit dominate but scenes of Tokyo and New York also become subjects, homages to a love of cityscapes and to a time when travel was possible and plentiful. “When I was in Tokyo, by drawing other people in the subway car, I was able to remember very specific moments, things you naturally just forget. When I paint and draw this way, I can kind of feel the sounds, the different things happening otherwise it all gets numb, more distant and cloudier. Maybe 10 years after the fact, something random will trigger it, but the memory is nothing like it is when I record it this way.’’ Many of the moments depicted are in fact mundane, but that’s both the trick and the delight of this exhibition. We’re met with a Kilpatrick in full command of the details that separate novice from master but yet every bit as attuned to the wonder and play of a beginner. “I took kind of a break from painting. I got burned out,’’ he says. “I was teaching but I don’t think I was feeling it. I wasn’t exploring anymore.’’ A decision to teach the introductory painting course at the College for Creative Studies—where he’s also the Department Chair of Illustration—brought Kilpatrick back to his brushes. “I’ve been practicing what I’m preaching to the freshmen,’’ he says. “The process really put me in the right mindset to slow down, to take my time just noticing again, really looking at things like the basic color wheel instead of rushing through so that I’m able to explain something like a split complementary color scheme to someone who’s maybe never heard of it.’’ And just like that, Kilpatrick the teacher was once again Don the exuberant student. “The more I dove into the basics with the students, it helped me understand for myself what I was working through and missing about the process. I feel like these paintings, this show, is a culmination of that effort and the progress of slowing down, of really going back.’’
Nichole M. Christian is a writer and veteran journalist. She has worked as creative director, editor and lead writer for the Kresge Foundation’s annual eminent artist monograph series. The titles include: A Palette for The People (2021), honoring painter and educator, Shirely Woodson; Wonder and Flow, (2020) honoring ceramicist Marie Woo, and A Life Speaks, (2019) honoring poet and activist Gloria House. Nichole was also coauthor of Canvas Detroit. Her writing also appears in the poetry chapbook, Cypher, summer 2021; Portraits 9/11/01: The Collected Portraits of Grief from The New York Times; the online arts journal, Essay’d; A Detroit Anthology, and Dear Dad: Reflections on Fatherhood. She is currently co-director of We exChange, a yearlong arts project with Signal-Return letterpress, pairing six writers and six visual artists in a collaborative exploration of the meaning of change in a time of chaos—its limits and its unexpected possibilities. The project will culminate in an exhibition in late 2022.
2405 VERNOR HIGHWAY W. DETROIT / THE MAIN LOBBY OF MICHIGAN CENTRAL STATION
acrylic gouache on Ampersand Gesso Board, 14 x 11 inches signed
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PROCESS // PROGRESS
7740 WOODWARD AVE, DETROIT/ SEE YOU TOMORROW
acrylic gouache on Ampersand Gesso Board, 14 x 11 inches signed
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1850 E. MCNICHOLS ROAD, DETROIT, MICHIGAN / THE SHOP WITH THE YELLOW AWNING
acrylic gouache on Ampersand Gesso Board, 14 x 11 inches signed
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PROCESS // PROGRESS
1390 AUBURN ROAD, ROCHESTER HILLS, MICHIGAN / PINK HOUSE
acrylic gouache on Ampersand Gesso Board, 14 x 11 inches signed
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COOLIDGE HIGHWAY, ROYAL OAK, MICHIGAN / BOWLERO
acrylic gouache on Ampersand Gesso Board, 14 x 11 inches signed
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PROCESS // PROGRESS
395 ARKANSAS STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA. / SUNSET ON POTRERO HILL
acrylic gouache on Ampersand Gesso Board, 14 x 11 inches signed
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E. HOUSTON STREET, NY, NY / TWO OLD MEN UNDER NEON LIGHTS
acrylic gouache on Ampersand Gesso Board, 14 x 11 inches signed
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PROCESS // PROGRESS
TWO FIGURES UNDER PARK LIGHTS
acrylic gouache on Ampersand Gesso Board, 14 x 11 inches signed
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99 RIVINGTON STREET, NY, NY / SMOKE BREAK ON A STOOP
acrylic gouache on Ampersand Gesso Board, 14 x 11 inches signed
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PROCESS // PROGRESS
1232 BROADWAY, NY, NY / “WHY DON’T YOU CALL MORE OFTEN...?”
acrylic gouache on Ampersand Gesso Board, 14 x 11 inches signed
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OTAKEBASHI-DORI AVENUE, ARAKAWA, TOKYO, JAPAN / MAN ON A BICYCLE AT DUSK
acrylic gouache on Ampersand Gesso Board, 14 x 11 inches signed
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PROCESS // PROGRESS
11-10 NEZU 2-CHOME, BUNKYO, TOKYO, JAPAN / THE RED STREET CORNER
acrylic gouache on Ampersand Gesso Board, 14 x 11 inches signed
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SPACE RIDE ON A TIGER
hand-carved woodcut woodblock, 12 x 12 inches, signed
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PROCESS // PROGRESS
SPACE RIDE ON A TIGER
relief print from hand carved woodblock, 14 x 14 inches, signed, edition of 2
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PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE
hand-carved woodcut woodblock, 12 x 12 inches, signed
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PROCESS // PROGRESS
PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE
relief print from hand carved woodblock, 14 x 14 inches, signed, edition of 3
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SHELTER IN SPACE
hand-carved woodcut woodblock, 8 x 34 inches, signed
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PROCESS // PROGRESS
SHELTER IN SPACE
relief print from hand carved woodblock, 10 x 36 inches, signed, edition of 3
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SPACE TRAVELER (JOLIE)
hand-carved woodcut woodblock, 48 x 24 inches, signed
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PROCESS // PROGRESS
SPACE TRAVELER (JOLIE)
relief print from hand carved woodblock, 56 x 31 inches, signed, edition of 3
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SPACE ODYSSEY PIETA
hand-carved woodcut woodblock, 8 x 12 inches, signed
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PROCESS // PROGRESS
WHAT-ABOUT-ISM VARIATION 2
relief print from hand carved woodblock, 14 x 14 inches, signed, edition of 3
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CASH
relief print from hand carved woodblock, 14 x 14 inches, signed, edition of 4
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PROCESS // PROGRESS
DOLLY
relief print from hand carved woodblock, 14 x 14 inches, signed, edition of 3
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2405 Vernor Highway W, Detroit / The Main Lobby of Michigan Central
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7740 Woodward Ave, Detroit / See You Tomorrow
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1850 E McNichols road, Detroit, Michigan / The Shop with the Yellow Awning
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1390 Auburn road, Rochester Hills, Michigan / Pink House
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Coolidge Highway, Royal Oak, Michigan / Bowlero
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395 Arkansas Street, San Francisco, CA. / Sunset on Potrero Hill
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E Houston Street, NY, NY / Two Old Men Under Neon Lights
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Two Figures Under Park Lights
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99 Rivington Street NY, NY/ Smoke Break on a Stoop
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1232 Broadway, NY, NY / “Why don’t you call more often...?”
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11-10 Nezu 2-Chome, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan / The Red Street Corner
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Otakebashi-Dori Avenue, Arakawa, Tokyo, Japan / Man on a Bicycle at Dusk
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Space Ride on A Tiger
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Pursuit of Knowledge
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Shelter in Space
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Space Traveler (Jolie)
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Space Odyssey Pieta
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What-About-Ism Variation 2
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Cash Dolly
CATALOGUE
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Don Kilpatrick, III moved to Detroit in 2007 to begin his career at the College for Creative Studies as a faculty member in the Illustration Department of which he has been the department chair since 2010. Kilpatrick’s work has been featured in publications such as Fortune, the L.A. Times, Nautilus magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. His illustration can be found on the Olympic medal for the XIX Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Most recently his work can be found in the form of a series of large-scale murals on the newly built Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit. Additionally, he has exhibited his artwork in Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Tokyo, and Miami. He has regularly shown his work in both group and solo gallery shows, and most recently in January 2019 at M Contemporary gallery in Ferndale, Michigan. This recent show included prints, woodcuts, paintings, and a collaboration with renowned bespoke shoemaker and artist Noriyuki Misawa. He teaches painting courses on domestika.com
PROCESS // PROGRESS Don Kilpatrick March 25 - April 23, 2022
Photography by CJ Benninger Catalogue Design: Andre Moore aaprintandpublishing.com
M Contemporary Art 205 East 9 Mile Ferndale, MI 48220 mcontemporaryart.com
©2022 Don Kilpatrick
Inquires Melannie Chard mc@mcontemporaryart.com (347) 665-7011 Text: Nichole M. Christian
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