Artist of the day: Artist of the day, April 29: Lindsey Kustusch, American painter (#679)

Monday, April 29, 2019

Artist of the day, April 29: Lindsey Kustusch, American painter (#679)

Explore. Evolve. Try. Make mistakes. It doesn’t matter, because, in the end, you’ll eventually find your style. After a beginning based on the abstract, Lindsey Kustusch has moved on to a more precise, figurative work, but not entirely giving up on the possibilities of the abstract, sometimes using it when painting the background. Undeniable passion for animals and living the city life has pointed her focus on urban landscapes and animals. Her ultimate goal is to capture moments in time through pictorial form, as the city, and life in general, are ever-changing, without two moments ever being completely the same. Every piece is thought of as a memory, for what is life in the end if not a series of memories.

The fear of her artworks being seen as boring has motivated Kustusch to constantly seek new techniques, new inspiration for her pieces. The process of delicately blending pigment and lightly applying it to a canvas was something that was no fun at all, and she wasn’t very good at it. So she started using palette knives and improvising other painting implements. Her two main subject matters are urban landscapes and animals, and she jumps from one to another without any difficulties. In fact, the constant changing of what she paints is keeping her focused and experimental, and her work fresh. One other thing she is recognizable for is the use of the dark palette, since she sees the richness in the dark pigment that simply strikes a chord with her.

She studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, but didn’t realize long after the studies, and after a career in animal welfare, that the painting is what she wants to do in life. She continues to be active in such organizations, but deep inside knows the art is what she wants to do. The joy of creating pretty much anything with her hands, and the spontaneous feeling and the physicality are all present in the painting. The endless possibilities of paint along with her love for the city and the animals, her cats especially, make a combination which is a dream for every artist.

To know what you want to paint and how you want to paint it, and when the whole process provides such a pleasure – all that remains is to see what Kustusch decides to do next. Her recent trip to Germany and the photos she took, which will serve as inspiration for the new paintings, promise a slight change in the approach, a change we look forward to seeing.

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