Artwork Title: Urban Grit – Bridges
By: Kai Hart
Dimensions (in inches): 40" x 30"
Media: Acrylic on canvas
Year: 2020
Artwork Title: Urban Grit – Yellow 1, 2021
By: Kai Hart
Dimensions (in inches): 36" x 24"
Media: Acrylic on Canvas
Year: 2021
Artist Statement
Urban Grit is a series of paintings completed in my artist studio in Winnipeg. I was working as a night guard at Union Station for Via Rail, and every night I was up on the train platform, the steel beams below and the skyscrapers above. The rust, dirt, the oil fuel for the trains, graffiti and concrete. The cold song of the prairie winds – solitude at last. Dozens of locks, doors and gates to secure. The repetition of routine. All of these things inspired and informed by artwork when I shuffled my body into the studio every early morning.
I stripped these elements down to their basic form; the scribbled repetition of lines mixed with straight structural lines. The greyscale and blues opposite to neon colours. My paintbrush moving to the speed of anxiety, trying to outrun the fear and awareness into my own metal health downward spiral. I was too stubborn and impatient to slow down, more layers and lines building up on the canvas. All in a chaotic layered expression of two years under multiple lockdowns and gripping isolation.
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