Madison area artist Kevin Kiley, who creates landscape representations on canvases using a variety of mediums, now has four pieces on display inside a newly opened apartment complex on North Fair Oaks Avenue.
Kiley exhibited with Carnelian Art Gallery during its early fall show, “Landscape.” The developers of Starkweather Place saw the exhibit, and thought Kiley’s art would add elevate the apartment complex’s already nature-esque and modern interior. You can find Kiley’s works inside Starkweather Place’s lobby at 215 N. Fair Oaks Avenue.
“Working with Carnelian, Evan, and Kevin was a fabulous experience, from viewing work in the gallery itself to talking with the artist about the pieces to seamless purchasing and thoughtfully wrapped paintings ready for pickup,” said co-developer of Starkweather Place William Butcher, who works for New Madison Development. “The pieces we purchased were a series of industrial buildings and scenes from Madison’s east side. His use of light, perspective, and the juxtaposition of aging architecture and urban nature renders a uniquely elegiac tone. The mundane and timeworn (metal or block buildings, scraps of sky, naked branches silhouetted against November twilight) are elevated in his pieces into hauntingly beautiful reports from eras past, many that we still walk or drive past today. They will not always be there, though, so we are grateful to have these beautiful memorials of the city that will ultimately outlast their subjects.
“Carnelian gives talented local artists an avenue to show, and sell, their art and facilitates both the gallery and art buying experience. This provides us a one-stop shop to find unique art for our developments. The traditional route might include a designer sourcing stock prints or quirky pieces that often don’t resonate, are without a connecting thread or story, and certainly don’t support local art. The dual benefit with Carnelian is being able to decorate with intention, get a profoundly better product, and grow the local art scene in the process.”
Kiley said Butcher loved his pieces so much, he decided to take one home with him.
“I was humbled and flattered by that,” Kiley said. “We both had an emotional connection to this work.”
