Anne Kearney - Bound and Determined

Presented by Flash Gallery, Barcelona, 3 - 24 March 2023

Artist Statement

We are born with the seeds of ourselves but it is our surroundings and circumstances that shape how we grow. Like a sapling, we might find ourselves in a place where we can stretch and flourish or we might be pinched in a too-small container. We might be nourished by our community or stunted by someone else’s shadow. We bear the signs of plentiful years and the scars of rough winters.

This body of work explores the ongoing process of how we are constructed and shaped – for better and for worse – by our interactions with the places and people that surround us. The expressive-figurative paintings and drawings are a response to the tension that can exist between the shape we want our lives to take and the way that we are pushed and pulled by our circumstances.

“Construction” is also a good metaphor for my artistic process. My paintings develop slowly as I alternately build and unearth layers. The muted color palette, textures, and structural elements found in this body of work are drawn from building and excavation sites around Barcelona, where I live. The figures in these works are constructed from a range of reference images, including photos and life drawings. As the work progresses, however, these images become less important as I increasingly respond to the constraints and opportunities posed by the emergent work itself.

These works have been called “dark,” but they do not come from a dark place. The figures are rarely smiling but neither are they simply sad. For me, these works capture a moment in a person’s life when the cameras are turned away and we can glimpse something of the complexity of their experience and emotion. The heavily layered pieces – comprised primarily of oil paint, cold wax, and collage – are not intended as portraits of specific people but rather as embodiments of universal human experiences.

How has your life been shaped by where you live? By the people around you? By the force of your experiences?

Biography

Anne Kearney is an expressive-figurative artist who paints her ideas about psychology, people, and the environments that affect us.

Kearney became a full-time artist after a decades-long career as an environmental psychologist studying the interactions between people and their surroundings while working for universities, non-profits and NASA. She sees her art career not as a departure from her research career but as an extension of it. She draws on her depth of experience in psychology as a starting point for her artwork and is energized by the struggle of finding ways to communicate the essence of her ideas through oil paint and mixed media. In the process, the ideas often take on fresh life and spark new dialogues.

Kearney was born in 1965, and raised amidst the wheat covered rolling hills of Idaho in the northwestern United States. She is now also a citizen of Ireland and an explorer of the world. Kearney has a B.A. in Cognitive Science from Stanford University, a Ph.D. in Environmental Psychology from the University of Michigan, and has studied art throughout her life. She currently lives in the vibrant city of Barcelona.

In addition to her artwork, Kearney’s art practice includes writing about what research in environmental psychology and cognitive science have to tell us about making art and functioning at our best in this complex world.

About Flash Gallery

Flash Gallery is a gem in Barcelona! It is a non-profit gallery with the sole and exclusive interest of giving unconditional support to artists and making art more affordable for the public.

I could not have imagined a better venue for this show nor a more supportive person throughout the process than gallery owner, David Correa.

You can find out more about Flash Gallery and their upcoming shows here.