When looking at his paintings, you’ve got to wonder what the hell is going on inside the head of Portland-based artist Andy Kehoe. To escape personal anxiety, Kehoe creates monochromatic pastoral environments with undertones of unease and conflict. Animals and human figures symbolize power, truth, anxiety, and fear.
“I think people get my work and relate to it on levels more important to me than understanding,” says Kehoe. “My work is so personal to me that if someone did really understand it, I’d be a little unnerved. I have specific storylines to a lot of my paintings, but I really love when people inject their own stories and life experiences into my work. Then it’s almost like my life is intertwined with someone else’s in some strange way and I love that connection. I’m almost afraid to explain my work because I don’t want to ruin that.”
If you find yourself in Los Angeles, you can catch Kehoe’s latest show, The World Unseen and Those In Between, at Thinkspace Gallery through January 2nd, 2010.
