Ken Wood came to painting by way of studies in architecture and printmaking. While a student in architecture school, he interned for a year with the architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, which inspired an interest in flatness, color and pattern (and their playfully questionable application to Modernist design). These ideas found their way into a series of lithographs exploring ideas about domestic architecture. This ultimately led to a degree in printmaking, and a focus on material, layering and gesture was added to the image making.

The artist completed his MFA in Philadelphia and Rome, during which time he began manipulating everyday tools such as brushes, sponges and pencils to create mark-making implements for his paintings and drawings. The black and grey lines and forms made with these tools were kept deliberately simple in order to explore fundamental concepts of composition and pictorial space. This return to basics coincided with the artist’s change of vocation, from practicing architect to artist and teacher. The work developed from this new starting point and began to include a wider range of color, pattern and translucency. The focus of the imagery remained on layering, depth, composition, and the movement of forms across the page.

Ken Wood has a professional degree in Architecture from Rice University in Houston, TX and an MFA in Printmaking from Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia/Rome. He has exhibited his paintings, drawings and prints in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Texas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Missouri, Mississippi and in Italy, and shows his work at the Philip Slein Gallery in St. Louis. He has taught drawing and design at the Rhode Island School of Design, Wesleyan University, Temple University in Rome, Virginia Tech, and Washington University, and is currently Assistant Professor of Art at St. Louis Community College Meramec.

For sales, please contact the Philip Slein Gallery at 314.621.4634