Artospective: Figurative Paintings by Kendric Tonn from America.

Male Nude in Studio Interior (Composition in Triangles, oil on canvas, 40 x 48in.

An Interview with Kendric Tonn.

Who and where are you from?

My name is Kendric Tonn. I'm currently based in Columbus, Ohio, though I've moved around quite a lot. I'm an oil painter, trained at SCAD and the Florence Academy of Art.

How did you get into painting?

I was never really one of the Art Kids in school, but I found myself starting to draw seriously in late high school and early college. After I finished my undergraduate, I was working in Japan, found myself drawing constantly, and thought, well, maybe I should take this seriously.

What is your driving force?

Painting is, obviously, a visual medium, and I've always been a visual person. In some ways, I started drawing as a means of looking, and that's an important part of my practice--looking, seeing, and expressing. I also work extensively with the figure, and the human connection you form doing that is really something that's crucial to me.

What kind of work you do and why?

I'm a highly representational oil painter, working mainly with the nude figure, though I also paint still-lifes regularly. I'm interested in the expression of form and the creation of visual patterning across the 2D plane of the painting. My work, particularly with the model, is also highly driven by the attempt to create a kind of three-way emotional sympathy, between the model, the artist, and the viewer. I hope to express a sense of human presence, of a specific soul embedded in a body.