Patrick Kikut

Region: West

The themes in my work come from my extensive highway travel. Traveling has allowed me access to compelling landscapes, ecologies, histories, and cultures. These things help me gain an understanding of the West and drive the work I produce in the studio. I often find myself making field drawings in what feels like a place between a lonely paradise and a windswept crime scene. My intention with this work is to offer a sense of the poetry and reality of the expansive spaces I find between our protected National Parks and Forests. It is important for me to include representations of our ever-encroaching culture onto these landscapes. During my travels, I seek out locations that read like an empty stage set, where all the actors have left their props and abandoned the scene. This, I hope, offers the viewer an opportunity to step into the image and put together a narrative.