Hi!
Keilani Curran is a B.F.A. candidate at the University of Montana, with a concentration in painting, and is also working toward getting a minor in Art History. They are a nonbinary artist from Missoula, Montana, and have been interested in art from a young age as a way to explore visual communication and self-expression. Curran’s preferred media to work with are acrylics, screenprinting, and digital painting through programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Procreate. Their subject matter blends between semi-realistic portraits and abstractions of reality.
Curran is primarily influenced by contemporary artists such as Elly Smallwood, Michelle Avery Konczyk, and Savanna Judd. These artists are inspirational in their color usage, and how they depict human existence and identity.
Curran has completed courses in printmaking, painting, video editing, digital art, basics of graphic design, and more whilst a student at the University. They are the recipient of numerous awards including the Art Scholarship Fund from the School of Visual and Media Arts and the Briar Diggs Visual Arts Scholarship through the University of Montana. They also are a Horatio Algers' Scholar.
Artist Statement
My artwork is primarily an exploration of identity - finding parts of myself through the process of creating and communicating visually. Although my subject matter switches, each of my works heavily involve discovering something emotive and personal out of nothingness. With my portraiture, I explore the discomfort of having the subject looking directly at the audience, their faces neutral - except for their eyes. I focus the emotion of the figure on the eyes and then amplify it with the colors and the texture. The same goes with my more abstract-oriented pieces, where I take abstract brush strokes and make something out of them that is familiar, natural, and full of life. I grew up both surrounded and fascinated by vines and flowers, so I also tend to add those to my work in order to represent growth and a build-up of emotion.
Using complementary color schemes, I add to the tension and visual interest of the piece, purposefully picking the ones that could better inform the work through their common associations. I commonly pair greens and reds to show contrasting types of passion, life, and energy that still run deeply together, as well as pinks and blues to be more light, cold, calm, and melancholic. I explore contrasting identities and emotions in order to further explore my experiences as well as communicate those without the limitations of language.
Contact
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or if you want to chat about art!
linktr.ee/kmcurranart