Luminous, Mysterious Art Show Opens at Gallery 360

One could argue that you haven’t really seen a work of art until you’ve walked right up to it and examined the brush strokes or clay contours with your own eyes. 

Referring to his own paintings, Kevan Willington says it’s a whole other thing to see them in person. He’s right. Looking at the online images of Willington’s show “Into the Light,” which opened atthe evening of June 4, the paintings are certainly intriguing. The color palette is vivid and bright, the often sparse compositions are interesting. But what the computer screen images leave out are the tactile elements of the oil paintings and their startling luminosity.

It’s not uncommon to be able to make out brush strokes in a painting, or to see a smudge of paint raised slightly off the canvas upon close inspection. But Willington’s paintings are almost sculptural. With backgrounds built up one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch beyond the foregrounds, in person Willington’s paintings create a compelling tension. Each painting has two levels–and they are opposite of what one would expect. What is depicted as farther away in the painting is physically closer to the viewer; what is close is farther away. The surfaces of the paintings have a polished quality, cracked in places and perfectly smooth in others, and are so reflective they seem to produce their own light.

If the paintings are unique, the artist is similarly one of a kind. Calling him “the real deal,” Gallery 360 owner Merry Beck said Willington “lives and breathes his art.” 

Willington has been showing his work at Gallery 360 for the past two years, but this is his first gallery show at the space. He lives and works in Plymouth, previously working from a studio in St. Paul. Originally studying graphic art at the Colorado Institute of Art, Willington worked for a time post-college as a commercial artist. However, that, Willington said, didn’t turn out to be such a good idea. 

“When you’re in art school you’re always trying to do the best art you can... When you get out in the real world, you just do what the client wants,” Willington said. “It’s not about doing good art anymore; it’s about doing what the client wants.”

And when you’re an artist like Willington–who said he doesn’t choose what he paints; he’s simply the vehicle–commercial and commission work can be difficult and unsatisfying. Willington stopped doing commercial work after about eight years, choosing instead to work for Minneapolis-based Northern Sun Merchandising as a button maker. He later held an array of odd jobs to make ends meet while trying to make a living as a fine artist.  

Now working as an artist full time, Willington said it was a long road with an inevitable destination. 

“It’s tough at times but I don’t feel like I have a choice,” Willington said. “It’s just my destiny, my karma. I have to be an artist.”

Citing painter Thomas Moran as an influence, Willington said he takes the components of traditional painting and puts them on steroids. He refers to himself as a botanical artist and incorporates natural subject matter into all of his current work. He finds inspiration in nature–taking walks and letting the natural world speak to him about what next to paint.

While Willington may not consciously choose the composition of his paintings, he creates them using a recently-developed and labor-intensive technique he’s been working on the components of for years. He keeps the details of this method secret. He will say, however, that the creation of his art generally involves a pattern of death and rebirth, often sanding away images completely and creating new ones in their place.

“A good painting is a dance between your intentions and what’s happening naturally with the materials and subject matter,” Willington said. 

Listening to nature for inspiration and taking cues from the universe on how to compose a painting, Willington is careful not to be overly involved in his own work. He works intuitively, creating pieces that welcome reflection and wonder. But for Willington, it’s about the journey, not the final creation. 

“I could work on the same painting for the rest of my life,” Willington said. “Really, it’s the process of doing it that’s the art for me, not so much the end product, but I couldn’t make a living [doing that].”

Willington’s favorite painting in his collection, he said, is the next one. 

Kevan Willington’s “Into the Light” runs through July 3 at Gallery 360. See it for yourself.