Dave Kinsey
Dave Kinsey (born 1971, Pittsburgh, PA) is an American artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. He was a founding partner of the design studio BLK/MRKT Inc. from 1997–2003, along with Shepard Fairey and Phillip DeWolff. The studio was specialized in guerilla marketing, and "the development of high-impact marketing campaigns". Clients included Pepsi, Hasbro and Netscape In 2001, BLK/MRKT opened an art gallery became Kinsey/Deforges in Los Angeles.
Artist Bio
Dave Kinsey was born in Pittsburgh in 1971, attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and the Art Institute of Atlanta before moving to California in 1994 to pursue a career as a designer and fine artist. His work attempts to capture the universal essence of the human condition mainly through a symbolic portrayal of contemporary life. Utilizing a range of mediums, he constructs multi-layered, textured environments that echo the complexities of our existence. His fine art has been shown in galleries and museums worldwide among these have been exhibitions at the URBIS Museum in Manchester, UK, NEXT Chicago, Joshua Liner Gallery in NY, Alice Gallery and Art Brussels in Belgium. His work has been featured in multiple local and international print and online publications from The New York Times and Washington Post to The Citrus Report. He has also been invited to speak at institutions such as the Pasadena Art Center, UCLA, Montserrat College of Art and the Semi-Permanent conference in Sydney, Australia.
Kinsey founded BLK/MRKT design studio in 1996 and BLK/MRKT Gallery (now Kinsey/DesForges) in 2001, allowing him to provide a crossroads for a new movement of emerging iconoclasts.
Street Art
Dave Kinsey began to paint in the street in 1991. Known for his characters, he says: "I started drawing characters as a way to interpret various feelings I observe in humans. They give me the ability to translate something familiar into a new form"
Artwork
His painting balances between abstraction and figurative.
Education
- Art Institute of Atlanta, 1991-1993, Illustration & Design studies
- Art Institute of Pittsburgh, 1989-1990, Fine Art & Design studies
Solo exhibitions
1999 ARO.SPACE Gallery, Seattle, WA
2000 381G Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2001 Magda Danysz Gallery, Paris, France,“Message From The Soul”
2003 Basil Hayward Gallery, Portland, OR BLK/MRKT Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “80% Post-Consumer Grade”
2005 Boon Gallery, City, MA, “Environmentalistic I”
2006 The Public Trust, Dallas, TX A.L.I.C.E. Gallery, Brussels, Belgium, “Environmentalistic II” Stolenspace, London, England “Environmethodology”
2007 BLK/MRKT Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Sure, Why Not”
2008 A.L.I.C.E. Gallery, Brussels, Belgium Lazarides Gallery, Newcastle, England
2010 Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY, "New Works"
Select group exhibitions
1994 Underground Gallery, Atlanta, GA “Urbanistiks”
1997 IP Gallery, San Diego, CA “BLK/MRKT Group Show”
1998 Army Street Gallery, San Francisco, CA “Survival”
1999 La Panaderia Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico “Dave Kinsey and Shepard Fairey”
2001 Alife, New York, NY “Arkitip - Exhibition 002”
2002 Nagayo Parco Museum, Tokyo, Japan “Sk8 On The Wall” Apart Gallery, London, England “Streetwise 1” Compound Gallery, Portland, OR “Dave Kinsey and Andy Howell” Revolutiones Gallery, Denver, CO “The Four Horseman”
2003 NY Arts Gallery, New York, NY “Decipher 2.0” Alte Chemie, Munich, Germany “Modart03”
2004 Urbis Museum, Manchester, England “Ill Communication II” Yerba Buena Arts Center, San Francisco, CA “Beautiful Losers”
2005 The Lab101 Gallery, Culver City, CA “Keep-A-Breast” Charity & Auction Halcyon Shop, Brooklyn, NY “Hard Times” Tsunami benefit Exhibition
2006 Montserrat Gallery, Beverly, MA “Electric Wasteland” 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA “Fecal Face Dot Com Annual” Receiver Gallery, San Francisco, CA “Kings and Queens”, Keep-A-Breast Charity Art Chicago – Hotcakes Gallery, Milwaukee, WI Art Brussels – Alice Gallery, Brussels, Belgium BLK/MRKT Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “BMG Artists’ Annual”
2007 Red Dot Fair, Miami Beach – BLK/MRKT Gallery, Los Angeles Slick Contemporary Art Fair, Paris - Alice Gallery, Brussels, Belgium Art Brussels – Alice Gallery, Brussels, Belgium BLK/MRKT Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “BMG Second Artists’ Annual”
2008 “Postcards From the Edge” Metro Pictures, New York, NY “Clowns” Corey Helford Gallery, Culver City, CA “FAME” Studiocromie, Grottaglie, Italy NEXT Art Fair, Chicago – Kinsey/DesForges, Los Angeles Outsiders Group Show , Lazarides Gallery, London.
2009 SCOPE Miami—Joshua Liner Gallery Joshua Liner Gallery, NY, NY, "Summer Group Show" VASF Gallery, San Francisco, CA, "WHAMMY!!" New Image Art, Los Angeles, CA, "15 Year Anniversary"
2010 Yellow Pants Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, "We Dream In Colors" Bristol Museum, Bristol, England, "Art From The New World" Ambush Gallery, Sydney, "Asahi Silver+Black"
Lectures and presentations
2001 University of Florida, Gainesville, FL – March, Ligature design conference.
2003 Alte Chemie, Munich, Germany – February, Lecture & artist workshop
2004 AIGA, Los Angeles, CA – October, Lecture and Studio visit
2005 Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA – December, Lecture and studio visit Art Center, Pasadena, CA – September, Lecture and studio visit UCLA Design class, Los Angeles, CA – June, Lecture and studio visit
2007 Semi-Permanent, Sydney, Australia – March, Design conference lecture
Publications
- BLK/MRKT ONE(2006), Los Angeles, CA, published by BMG and Die Gestalten Verlag
- BLK/MRKT TWO(2007), Los Angeles, CA, published by BMG and Die Gestalten Verlag
- Juxtapoz(2008), San Francisco, CA, Feb issue no. 85
- ROJO Magazine(2009), Barcelona, Spain, ®KYOI Breach Dynamics issue
- From Style Writing to Art, A Street Art Anthology (2009), published by Magda Danysz
- The Art of the Rebellion (2003), by C100, Publikat Verlag, p. 128-129
- The Upset * young contemporary art , edited by Robert Klanten, Sven Ehmann, Hendrik Hellige and Pedro Alonzo, published by Gestalten, Berlin 2008.p. 190-191