KEV DACEY
 

Greetings....

the site has been struck with some sort of ...problem. I am working to rebuild and have all my projects and portfolios up soon. contact me at kevindacey@me.com if needed. Check back soon for the images and other awesomeness.
Many Thanks,

Kevin
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This series of drawings present a meditation, elevating everyday objects to subjects of close scrutiny and quiet reverence. Rendered in stark black and white, the works employ dense, expressive line work  to evoke the tactile nature of each object, emphasizing its thingness over context. 

Stripped of their usual context, the kettle, grill, and weathered brick appear in an ambiguous space, neither entirely real nor entirely abstract. This isolation forces the viewer to engage with the objects on their own terms, considering them not just as functional tools but as carriers of memory, use, and lived experience. The delicate balance between precision and imperfection in the marks suggests both an analytical and an emotional engagement with these forms, reflecting on their roles in domestic and communal rituals.  

In their stillness, these objects feel at once familiar and distant, inviting reflection on the ways in which everyday materials shape and are shaped by human life. The work gestures toward a kind of visual archaeology—an attempt to record and preserve the material traces of the ordinary, revealing their quiet significance.

The works illustrate a dialogue, one that explores a liminal space between past and future, self and other. Like Janus, a god of duality and transition, these figures exist in a state of ambiguity—featureless and adorned, present yet elusive. The interplay of textures, patterns, and organic elements suggests identities that are fluid and multifaceted. Garments and adornments act as cultural and personal markers. Others carry medallions and awards that signify events and actions taken. 

These figures seek not to simply exist in the moment; they embody a continuum of time, reflecting histories, narratives, and possibilities unfolding. Through their anonymity, they offer a space; one that asks the viewer to consider the nature of identity, transition and simple acts of adornment.  

My artistic practice explores the liminal spaces between perception and reality, presence and absence. Through a diverse range of media, including painting, photography, and drawing, I investigate the ways in which objects and figures become vessels for personal and collective narratives.

The figural are often rendered in a state of transition, embodying a continuum of time and possibility. Adornment, in the form of necklaces, fabrics, and headdresses, becomes a powerful language of cultural inheritance and personal agency, connecting the figure to ancestral knowledge and acting as a talisman for the unknown. 

In the 'Mirror Mirror' series, the act of self-reflection is examined through the  experience of heightened figure-ground relationships. The stark contrasts and fractured forms become metaphors for the internal dialogue between the self and its reflection, questioning the stability of identity and the elusive pursuit of self-understanding. 

The photographic work engages with historical texts and captures the tangible and intangible spaces within their pages, transforming them into portals to hidden narratives and fragmented knowledge. Inscriptions and illustrations act as cryptic clues, inviting the viewer to engage with the books as physical repositories of memory and imagination.

The line drawings, rendered in stark black and white, elevate everyday objects to subjects of quiet reverence, Stripped of their usual context. The dense, expressive line work evokes their tactile nature, inviting a form of visual archaeology that seeks to preserve the material traces of the ordinary.

Across these diverse approaches, a consistent thread emerges: an exploration of ambiguity, a fascination with the spaces between, and a reverence for the ways in which objects and images can hold and convey the complexities of human experience. My work invites the viewer to engage in a process of active interpretation, to question their assumptions about form and space, and to consider the unseen forces that shape our understanding of the world.
kpd8899@icloud.com