story + photos / Tiffany Diane Tso
Allow me to elaborate. With the release of our latest issue, #8 The We Are Legends Issue, I wanted to pepper our “Incoming Freshmen of 2014” spread with some real in-depth coverage of each of our up-and-comers. We know they look great in print. We know they’re something special, but I felt it necessary to shed more light on what really put these folks on our radar.
To start, Kadar Brock is an artist living in Brooklyn, educated at Cooper Union School of Art, who shows in galleries scattered across the world, most recently at The Hole in NYC. Coming up for Brock is another exhibition at Vigo Gallery in London. I paid him a studio visit to gain a shred of insight on his artistic process and get to know his art as a reflection on his person. His process, by the way, typically begins with bright, colorful large canvas abstract paintings, which I could only describe as “happy paintings.” These original pieces, Kadar’s paintings of expression, are then “negated and disenchanted” by a long process of layering and breaking down to become what we see hung on the walls of galleries, his hole-y, three-dimensional, deconstructed post-paintings.
Kadar works with some conventional and unconventional tools and mediums including but not limited to paint, primer, window scrapers, sanders and razor blades.
Keeping true to his intentional deconstructive style, Brock leaves works in process scattered throughout his studio, on the floor, draped over equipment.
At the “Incoming Freshmen” photo shoot for the #8 issue, Kadar called himself an “art jock,” not fitting into the stereotyped artist mold we have learned to expect and accept.
Paintings, pre-processed
Painting in the midst of Brock’s process
Finished pieces
Sculptures in the making. Most of his pieces take a year or two to complete.
Adding random, un-meticulous strokes of color to one of his early-stage paintings. This colorful abstract will go through a long process of covering, scraping, sanding, razor blading…
Kadar’s studio doubles as his friends’ hang out spot where they play Dungeons & Dragons. Proof: scoring.