It was very refreshing to discover the artwork of Kyle Jenkins. Kyle’s work has an interesting focus on the structure of space and he seeks to break this down through strong lines and abstract forms.

As well as his study in visual arts, Kyle has a PhD in Philosophy, so it’s really in his nature to dissect and interpret the environment around him.

As a practicing artist for more than a decade, Kyle has widely exhibited his work in dozens of solo and group shows around the world. Fortunately, he is now represented by several international galleries including Galleri Kant in Denmark, Minus Space in New York, CCNOA in Brussels and PS Gallery in the Netherlands.

Now based in Toowoomba, Kyle works between 2 studios, one for his painting and large artwork pieces, and the other for his music. In between artwork, Kyle plays guitar and sings in the Brisbane band Suicide Swans.

From his interview below, you can see how many years of thought, practice and dedication to art that Kyle has. I found his views and interpretation of everyday things and places to be just so intriguing. And with a word count of well over 1,000 words, it’s no wonder Kyle managed to complete a PhD!

For more of Kyle’s artwork and larger photos of his installation projects, check out his website.

How have you got to where you are today?

I have always been interested in space and how it is constructed. Even when I was young I always thought about that feeling you get from a room, place or space where it physicality becomes overwhelming and you become comforted in some way by that location you are physically, emotionally or mentally present in.

I have always been intrigued by that and all my work has always been interested, engaged, concerned and developing either conceptually or physically that feeling or idea. I think in terms of art and architecture, I would have to say when I was 16 and I was living in San Francisco, USA, I use to visit the Musuem of Modern Art (MOMA) constantly to look at their modernist art collection plus their extensive and seminal design and architecture collection.

It was there that I started to see how various elements produced in numerous ways were able to speak to each other and have a connection. At the same time I became more and more interested in the connections between music, art, architecture and design. I have always loved music and art from the 60s and 70s. It is the period of time that has always interested me where everything produced has a beautiful immediacy to it. That within all the off notes, the incorrect colours or difficult constructions, that there is an honesty and truth to what is being presented.

I think it’s only when you get older and experience a lot of things that you start to see this more clearly. It is the main reason why the band I am in Suicide Swans is engaged with this type of folk/country/rock’n’roll from the 60s and 70s.

In many ways the way I write music, the way I make art, the way I create artist books, furniture, wall paintings, take photographs of the world are all collapsed and collapsing within this evolving way that I see, experience and think about the world.

I think it’s also the reason why I have never thought about being an artist per se, but instead someone who is responding to the world through his or her own individual methodology. Of course there are moments where what you are making is similar as someone else, but I always find this intriguing because even though something may look or sound the same it isn’t, because it’s the experiences of the individual making the work and the reason for its creation that makes anything and everything individualistic and different. It’s the most amazing thing about people who create.

Untitled (blueprint) #208 2007 – Acrylic & MDF wall painting

Untitled (Esbjorn Svensson) #15 2008 – Acrylic wall painting

In a few words, describe yourself… Difficult, stubborn, driven, supportive, conscious.

What are you spending your time on at the moment?

I have just finished and shipped 2 large paintings and a wall painting design to Brussels for a museum group show I am in at the end of January.

The Suicide Swans are finishing the mixing and mastering of our first E.P. We are also currently working on recording for the new album, plus we have a new member in the band so we are rehearsing for shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

I’m busy working on 4 large paintings that will be shipped to Galleri Kant in Denmark. I will be doing a solo exhibition there in early 2013. I’m also planning the catalogues, images and copy to be distributed to the galleries that show my work.

I’m also working in the studio on ideas for a solo show at MOP gallery in Sydney that is in August 2012.

With our band manager Anthea, organizing gigs for 2012, plus visa’s for the USA when we tour there in 2013. Currently working on an exhibition I am curating at Toves Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark in mid to late 2012.

I’m also moving to a larger studio so I can make larger paintings, updating the band website and my art website, writing new music and thinking about / making new experiments for possible artwork that will be made in the future.

I am always interested in the work e.g. the wall paintings being developed for individual spaces and having a relationship with the site of its installation, so I’m also working on wall painting designs that could be installed in foyers of businesses, homes and shops.

Designing some videos and short films for YouTube that I am interested in making. Trying not to get bored with myself – that is the constant everyday.

And most importantly, making sure that bugs don’t eat the awesome tomato, basil and habanera chili garden that was planted in November 2011 (constant threat).

Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?

I need a studio usually or a place that is comfortable for whatever reasons for just sitting, writing or thinking. If I have that then I am happy. The other thing is that I need to be listening to and playing music everyday, making or thinking about art, without that I go crazy.

Also reading. I am always looking and reading anything I can get my hands on. Usually my studio goes from being clean and organized to completely chaotic if I am working on artwork for an exhibition. I have 2 studios now, one for art and one for music so it makes it a lot easier to work and keep things organized.

If you collapse all those things together then that is my ritual everyday.

What or who inspires you?

Lots of things inspire me. I could list them but it would be far too long. I have always been a sponge for finding out things. I read anything and everything from art and architecture books and magazines, Rolling Stone, Woman’s Weekly, online music blogs, fiction and non-fiction. Basically anything that has words that I can understand language wise or images, then I will look at it or read it.

I get challenged everyday by what other people are doing and it becomes a type of challenge creatively to come up with something that resonates for myself just like what they have done resonates with me.

I think the fact that the world has become smaller in terms of the Internet allows us / me to have some sought of experience with anything and everything in the world which in turn allows me to be constantly discovering and uncovering things that I was never aware of.

In terms of personal inspiration, I would have to say being in the studio and making a breakthrough with an idea, concept, technical or material issue. That inspires me the most.

What are you most proud of?

I am happy with where I am at currently however I am always disappointed that I am not doing more. Obviously at various times I have achieved certain things whether that’s, recording something or being invited to exhibit my work, create a wall painting for a home or foyer of a business, getting my PhD.

All those things professionally have at certain points allowed me to enjoy the moment to some extent however that quickly passes and I am concentrating on the next thing and how I can achieve it or make it etc. As for personally, I have been blessed to be able to travel and meet lots of people, make close friends with fellow practitioners and all that has really added to my life exponentially.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Who knows? I think the greatest thing about being a child is you never think you are going to die and the world (or universe) is full of never ending possibilities.

But as you get older you start to think about the things you are making, the ideas that you are engaged with and in some way these become a creative burden. I don’t think it’s a negative burden, but it is always there especially when you are working in the studio and you are attempting to create something that is exactly what you see in your head.

This has always been the issue for me creatively. Attempting to diminish the abstraction that occurs between what you imagine an idea to be in your head and then what it finally looks or sounds like when you have made it. When you’re a child I don’t think this occurs.

When your little, the sun can be purple and the grass can be blue. There are no rules and you are free to not have to conceptualize and think about what you are doing because you have the freedom or license just to be that: ‘free’.

As for what I wanted to be, well I wanted to play sports. I have always loved NFL football or my most secretive desire was to play second base for the San Francisco Giants baseball team. However I have never been fond of running so that cuts down on the amount of dreams I figure you can have when you’re young. I am more of a bar / commentator type of person when it comes to sports.

But I think playing music and making art and constantly trying to invent things to do is something that drives me crazy but makes me happy at the same time, and if you were to ask some people I act more like a child now then I probably did when I was younger.