About ken

Working in a variety of mediums, Ken's artwork combines nostalgic found images, vintage photos and discarded wood often assembled with painted portraits and abstract splashes of color and texture. Mining from both cultural and personal terrain, Ken reassembles these elements to create multi-dimensional interpretations of friends, celebrities and rock stars. Ken often begins with an acrylic portrait as the focal point of the piece, and proceeds to layer complimenting or contrasting colors and textures, while positioning found images with their underlying commentary.

Ken draws inspiration from the works of Robert Rauschenberg, Joseph Cornell, Peter Blake, the Dada movement, as well as, the POP & Rock n' Roll musicians of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Ken portrays contemporary culture through the lens of yesterday’s popular culture, and expects the audience to draw their own conclusion based on the juxtaposition of the visual elements assembled in his work. These messages can be communicated through an individual piece, or preferably as a series.

Since receiving a BFA from Northern Illinois University, Ken has been a working artist in Chicago. Ken has shown work at Art Chicago, Jackson Junge Art Gallery, Firecat Gallery and Art Festivals throughout the Midwest including Around the Coyote, Wells Street Art Fest, Lakeview East Arts Fest, Milwaukee’s Third Ward & Bucktown Art Fair, in which Ken was awarded Best in Show in 2011. More recently Ken received honors at Wells Street in 2021, Printers Row Art Fest in 2023 and Third in Show at The Lakeview East Festival of the Arts in 2023.

Commercially, Ken’s postcard series and reproductions of his sketchbooks have become a staple of the Wicker Park boutique market in Chicago; and he has met great success creating illustrations for a variety of publications including Chicago Tribune, Village Voice, Chicago Reader, New City and American Bar Association. To view a Bibliography of [Selected] Publications, view Ken's Artist CV here.

In the Summer of 2023, Ken was commissioned to create a permanent five part installation for The Salt Shed music venue in Chicago. The piece, entitled “When It Rains, It Roars” measures four feet by twenty-four feet and took three months to complete.

Ken currently creates artwork in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago.