Emerging Artists |Scott Kiche

The visual poetry of daily life

Scott Kiche, Sleeping on the Edge of the World, oil, 40 x 30.

This story was featured in the August 2014 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art August 2014 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story!

As a youngster growing up in the Los Angeles area, Scott Kiche says he seriously contemplated entering the priesthood. But when he was 15 he began taking art classes at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and it wasn’t long before he realized his true calling was in art. Today, at 40, the California-based Kiche is a busy full-time, award-winning painter and the father of five daughters.

Kiche’s genre of choice is still life, in part, he says, because of the infinite amount of allegory and symbolism that is possible in a tableaux brimming with objects. “There is so much content and poetry in the everyday things that are around us,” he says.

The mostly self-taught painter says he admires the work of contemporary still-life masters such as Scott Fraser, Daniel Sprick, and Robert Jackson. But Kiche says that his inspiration springs mainly from his own observations and responses to the people and world around him. He believes that inspiration is a more allusive, spiritual force than anything concrete. “We can’t truly understand inspiration, but we know it’s there because it has the power to move us emotionally and, in some cases, physically,” he says.

On occasion Kiche enjoys assembling random objects that seem interesting to him and then meditating for a few days on why a particular object makes him want to feature it in a painting. He may even play music to help him discover the mood or emotion he is trying to convey in a piece. SLEEPING ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD is one painting that evolved this way. “Sometimes we have to create a piece through trial and error and allow our instincts, heart, and soul to be what guide us through the piece,” he says.

As this story was going to press, Kiche was preparing works for an upcoming group show at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in Santa Barbara, CA. “My hope is that I can offer viewers a visual, as well as a thought-provoking, challenge when seeing my work—a challenge to their perspectives, to themselves, and to that which is around them,” Kiche says. —Bonnie Gangelhoff

representation
Jack Meier Gallery, Houston, TX; Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA; Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX.

Featured in the August 2014 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art August 2014 print issue or digital download Or subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss a story!