Kevin Ghiglione | Creating with Wax: Kevin Ghiglione

Encaustic literally means “created by fire”. Dating back to the 5th century B.C, encaustic paintings are created by melting together natural beeswax and damar (tree) resin.  Colour is added by powder and oil pigments.  The coloured molten wax medium must be applied quickly. The medium exhibits as thick, lush and sculptural.  A torch or heat source - the fire - then fuses the new wax application to the previous wax layer.  The surface can also be scraped and excavated to reveal the history of past layers. Encaustic is a natural medium and speaks directly to your senses. The surface is exotic to the touch. The aroma of honey and beeswax plays to your sense of smell.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

"I was thinking of a bedroom renovation when creating this artwork. When you remove a wall the old paint is revealed . When you remove a trim board or pictures… old colours are revealed speaking of a past history.

At first it is a single person’s room. Then it becomes a couple’s bedroom. And then a child’s bedroom. I can imagine all the dreams wrapped up in all the bed time stories and ‘good nights’."

And the changes continue. Walls are moved to make more space. Perhaps the growing child’s wishes to paint yet another colour. Maybe adding a closest. Book shelves. And the child grows up and the room continues to transform to become a teenager’s room. Posters. Curtains. Mirrors. The child grows up and moves away and the room is transformed into a guest room. And then a den. Perhaps the evidence collected could be interpreted as a timeline. They flat artwork is like an excavation that reveals periods of time.

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ARTIST STATEMENT:

"A message of hope, dreams and perseverance. Any previous stage of human history would view today’s technology as magic. Scientific thinking has granted us much magic for the human race. And there will always be naysayers.

When working on "Plotting Against Gravity” I wanted to bury the thinking, the science and calculations beneath the surface. Here and there the evidences are being exposed. It is a messy affair with some back and forth, debate and convincing needing to be done. Here, the idea of flight is used as an analogy to achieving the success of heavier-than-air objects. Human kind has to be calculating and aggressive to defeat the captivity of gravity. If we were to let things flow as they come, we would never be flying in the air - let alone traversing the earth via any kind of vehicle or transportation. I have somehow started to use the wireframe symbol of a zeppelin. The wire line drawing suggests a retro feeling while also suggesting innovation."

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