20 QUESTIONS FOR: TREVOR KIERNANDER
“There is a Ghost”
Oil, acrylic, and oil stick on linen
101.5cm x 76cm (40in x 30in) (image courtesy of the artist)
1.Name:
Trevor Kiernander
2.Occupation(s):
Artist/painter
3.Where are you from and what is your education?
I was born in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and grew up in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, from the age of 12. I lived in Montreal between 2002-2007, London, England from 2007-2014, and back in Montreal since 2014.
Took Art Fundamentals and my Interpretive Illustration Diploma at Sheridan College, Canada, a BFA in Painting & Drawing from Concordia University, Canada, and an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.
4.Where do you live/work (neighbourhood/city/country)?
Currently living in the Rosemont/Petit Patrie area of Montreal, and my studio is located in Parc Ex.
5.Does your location affect your practice?
Definitely, both affects and informs. I am about a 20-minute walk from my studio and I have more studio space than I have ever had. Both of these factors allow me to work a lot, and experiment with new ideas and materials on a regular basis. And only in the past few years (since being back in Montreal) have I come to realize that my work is about my relationship to space, and therefore obviously the spaces I work in.
6.What is your favourite tool in the studio?
I have made my own version of a “brush”, but it’s top secret…
7.Where do you look for your source material?
Anywhere and everywhere, really. I take lots of photos when I am out, but I also like snagging other people’s images from the internet. Also screen shots of things I’m watching on my computer. They mainly reappear in paintings and drawings as fragments, but it’s all there in my head somewhere.
8.What is your daily art world read?
Painting at the End of the World It is not necessarily a daily read, but Ian Gonczarow also runs an Instagram page of the same name and posts some really great work. I am also on a few mailing lists, like Artsy, etc., but there are a few online ones like Painters Talking Painting on FB (the new FB algorithms are pretty shit, mind, and so once you click on a news story, you seem to only ever get news from those sources). Other than that, it’s mainly Instagram.
9.What is your daily non-art-world read?
The Onion or Daily Mash. The “real world” news is too depressing…
10.What role does writing play in your practice?
Not as much as I would like it to.
11.What role does research play in your practice?
Depends on the definition of research. I read daily, and have a pretty decent library in my studio, so I am constantly referencing things, remembering essays I have read in the past, looking at artist monographs, but also getting out to see as much art as I can around town.
12.What role does collaboration play in your practice?
Not much at all, but I am always up for new things.
13.How does success affect your practice?
Again, I guess it depends on one’s definition of success? Like, I successfully left my job in London and moved back to Canada to work full-time in the studio. I think “success” follows the same plateaus you find in an art practice. You work hard at something and then finally reach a particular level, keep that up for a while until the next plateau, and so on. I definitely don’t jump on to something that is “commercially successful” and keep that going. I get bored too easily.
14.How does failure affect your practice?
I don’t believe in failure but see mistakes as something to build from. It works that way in each painting as well. I often try different things when painting, colours, mediums, techniques, directions, and if it doesn’t work out, I keep it, and work other elements into the composition to make everything relate.
15.What do you identify as the biggest challenge in your artistic process?
Being able to keep painting.
16.Who are some historical artists you are thinking about?
Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Willem de Kooning, Peter Lanyon, for painting.
17.Who are some contemporary artists you are thinking about?
Again, in painting, Amy Sillman (US), Charley Peters (UK), Delphine Hennelly (US), Leopold Plotek (CA)… there are quite a lot, actually, and many I am happy to call friends. I try to see as much painting as I can and try to keep an open mind to it all.
18.How do you describe what you are making now?
Oof. I just made myself a drawing station in my studio. It’s made out of scrap wood and a new IKEA table top I found.
As for my painting, I am working off of ideas from my current show at the Galerie d’art d’Outremont in Montreal (up until April 28th,), developing compositions and installation ideas made up of numerous surfaces. My work is continuous, meaning I don’t just make a particular body of work for a particular show, but I constantly paint, and then make a selection of work that I feel makes sense in the space I will be exhibiting in. I kinda go through a slump after a show, which I am sure a lot of people do, but I need to keep at it, so I spend a good week or two after the show, stretching and priming up some linen and canvas. I am really looking forward to working on more linen/canvas diptychs, this sort of duality thing I have been making since a residency in Leipzig in 2017-18. That, and trying to understand deeper connections between painting and music, rhythm, etc.
19.Who is an artist that you think deserves more attention?
Too many to mention. I think more attention needs to be paid to Canadian artists as a whole.
20.How can we find out more about you (relevant links etc)?
trevorkiernander.com www.instagram.com/ttothek9/