Forgotten Graces by Kevin West at Harrison Center

City Boys, Kevin West

Just ended in the large central gallery of Harrison Center, was a dynamic display of Kevin West's portraits and figurative works. In the artist's words accompanying the exhibit, he explained the overall theme of the show, 

 “(Forgotten Graces) is a reflection on the quiet, uncelebrated  gifts that shaped my childhood – moments so gentle and ordinary that I did not recognize their significance until I was grown.”

The works, numbering about fifteen, mostly oil on canvas and many quite large, are evidence that the graces were not forgotten forever. The pictures are packed with personality and story – memories of a youth populated by an engaging cast of characters.  People, mainly children, but not always, that seem relaxed, guard down –  like family and close friends –  who allow West the privilege of the close proximity of their eyes and essence. 

West's compositions have a sculptural presence – as monumental snapshot  or epic tableau. Several styles seem apparent among the works, though without date on the title cars, the variation among the pictures may represent either recurring styles or an evolution from one to the other.

Grannies Rocking Chair, Kevin West

City Boys, (top of page) is one such style, also seen in Grannies Rocking Chair. A looseness pervades the execution of these pictures. 

In City Boys,  the trousers are drawn in with a few strokes of the paintbrush, and an archetypal city skyline is sketched overhead. The individual portrait faces of the four youngsters possess the most detail and, like most of West's paintings, is the focus that beckons most. 

More narrative in design are the paintings such as Proverbs 22, 6 and Matthew 4, 19 Fishers of Men.

In the Proverbs piece, a grandfather attentively buttons the shirt of a grandson in what must be a routine and recurring morning ritual. They look across a distance of mere inches, not quite at each other. The grandfather is weary but devoted, while the grandson seems compliant yet preoccupied, perhaps already anticipating his school day.  They are in a room with a dresser and a little still life of Murray Pomade in an orange tin and a black comb.

Proverbs 22, 6, Kevin West

In the Matthew, Fishers picture, a group of four boys and a young man, stand surefooted on a small fishing boat, their city a sunlit sea, a ways offshore. Complimentary hues of orange and aqua on the boat, the bow pointing upwards in the picture, as the does the overall pyramidal grouping of the fishermen. The water must be full of fish, they must be thinking, looking out upon the vast water.

Another style is seen in a few large paintings, almost pop art in the brevity and punch of their imagery.  The backgrounds lack any identifiable place, just a line of horizon between two color fields. In these,the minimization of space serves to maximize the presence and attitude of the subject. One such of this style is The long way home. The painting shows an innovative pose of a close up of a girl atop her bicycle. Her arms are crossed, forming a V shape, that projects like the unseen front tire toward the viewer. It's a relaxed and casual leaning onto the shining handlebars. But the wedge of her elbows together gives the impression that nothing in front of her can stop her.

She wears an almost impossibly large white hat, that she tilts in a way that hints at a nonchalant confidence. If the way home is indeed long, and maybe even windy, there is no doubt she will simply tip her head down, and peddle forward, and she and her hat will make it, no problem. 

Matthew 4, 19 Fishers of Men (left) and The long way home (right), Kevin West
in detail of installation at Harrison Center in February

Mark Diekhoff, March 2026

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