Cheshire Artists Network

Andrew Kinmont

Andrew’s appreciation for nature started with a childhood spent walking and enjoying the wildness of the African landscape. This passion for exploring continues and the memories and emotion it evokes are his key influences.

He studied Fine Art at University of Wales, graduating with a first class Honours degree in 2007. Whilst studying, he curated exhibitions and showed his work at local galleries and abroad.

His work was described by painter and professor Estelle Thompson as “some of the best work to come from this institution”. His degree show was selected by the Wrexham City Art Centre for an exhibition showcasing the best graduates work.

From 2008-2009 he ceased exhibiting in order to focus full time on developing his own visual language. He opened ‘Kinmont Thompson Studios in 2009. His new work has met with critical acclaim and he is now beginning to promote his work on a wider basis. In 2011 he was shortlisted for membership of the Royal Cambrian Academy.

Artist Statement

I take my inspiration from nature, and work intuitively to develop an emotive rather than a representational response to my subject matter. My artistic process is not about developing an idea and then finding a way to express it. Rather, what excites me is encouraging an intuitive dialogue between the ideas and materials and allowing compositions to evolve naturally as I work.

As the philosopher Wittgenstein observed:
"I really do think with my pen because my head often knows nothing about what my hand is writing"

I want the final paintings to act as objects in their own right with their own emotional resonance, onto which the viewer can project their own feelings and meaning.

Testimonials

Through his expressive use of colour and intuitive approach, Andrew Kinmont articulates an engagement with nature, memory and the wild places of the world that is nothing less than exhilarating. In addition to his palpable artistic talent, he has drive, focus and exceptional business/marketing knowledge, a rare and impressive combination. Susan Richardson , Poet & BBC Broadcaster, 2010

The genre in which Andrew Kinmont works is concerned with "surface". With the discussion between colour and composition on the one hand, and subject and emotion on the other - interfacing in a vast vocabulary of "mark". I take my hat off to any artist who sets forth on this journey, because it makes for a tortuous working life, but thanks to their willingness to agonize, the world can receive their intensely alive and visceral works." Ed Povey, Artist, 2010

“For Andrew Kinmont to mount such an impressive degree show is one thing. For him to mature into a thoughtful and professional practitioner so soon after setting up his studio is quite another. Kinmont’s extensive experimental research of materials and processes combined with an expressive vision and draughtsmanship result in eminently collectable works which are rich distillations of nature itself.”
Andrew Coomber, Artist and Educationalist, 2010

Artist Website: http://www.andrewkinmont.com