Kermit Oliver
My Childhood was a rich experience in Nature. It was reflective and responsible. Very early on Bible Stories, Nursery Rhymes, Fairy Tales, Fables, and extensive and elaborate oral Histories, all shaped and thrust me into the duality of being, of having place, meaning and purpose. - Kermit Oliver
In my young adult and academic years, Mythologies, Theologies, Psychologies and Histories reverberated and reinforced the nexus of my thoughts and the texts of my compositions. - Kermit Oliver
There is nothing profound to be discovered in art. Indeed art lies. It is not the truth. It asks the observer to suspend that ordinary truth if they accept the venture and are capable to look to a larger narration of being. - Kermit Oliver
At the core of his landscapes and portraits is a spiritual quest that plumbs the depths of the human condition: birth, life, death and regeneration. In doing so, Oliver has pursued a legacy of endurance and understanding of the magical powers of storytelling to provide both solace and transcendence. His paintings and drawings are about the search for meaning in our lives - the stories we tell others and especially the stories we tell about ourselves. His work shimmers with radiating light that both unifies the surface and defines natural forms in carefully rendered acrylic brushstrokes on panel and the near-seismographic touch of graphite on paper. Rarely has ordinary existence seemed so multifaceted and enigmatic, even in its banal everyday details. Accordingly, the work delivers a sense of time’s passing. Oliver’s meticulous attention to the appearance of things and their capacity for mysterious drama yields lyric passages that evoke dreams, reflections and memories. - Susie Kalil, Author
I simply make pictures. - Kermit Oliver
Kermit's art is currently shown at Hooks-Epstein Galleries