Ken Weaver

Ken Weaver lives and works in New York. Weaver paints the dramatic, but largely unseen, citizens populating the rural and suburban underbelly of the United States. Through drawing, painting, installations, and video, we find dimwitted rednecks, spaced-out stoners, and kick-ass rock n’ rollers with bad teeth, bad language, and bad attitudes and as aggressive as they are vulnerable. Ken Weaver spent his early career creating theater and performance art. He now uses this experience in his 2-D works by staging friends and actors to recreate the characters from his rural/suburban past. It is the artist’s belief that through artifice, one can playfully gain an insight into the people we really are behind the mask of respectability, professionalism, and presentation.

2003, Blood Royale, oil pastel on paper, 60 x 40”

2003, Speak Slowly, I Am A Natural Blonde! (variation 1), oil on pastel, 60 x 40”

2003, Smart Bombs, Dirty Bombs, Anthrax, and Terrorism...And I Thought Disco Sucked, oil pastel on paper, 60 x 40”

2007, Up Bondage, Up Yours!, oil pastel on paper, 60 x 40”