When Edward Kingsbury III was diagnosed with severe Crohn’s Disease in 1997, he had no idea the illness would lead him to creating art that would be shown and appreciated around the world. A college student at the time, he was studying business and engaging in athletics so his limited ability to be active was a shock, and a challenge. Luckily, he was inspired by an artistic friend to consider creating art, especially abstract works. It proved to be a groundbreaking and life-saving experience.
“I felt a real release and I was filled with new energy when she and other friends encouraged me,” Kingsbury recalled. “I started creating art works in an organic way that gave me a kind of positive flow and new energy and I enjoyed the visual stimulation.”
Originally recognized for pen and ink abstractions as well as digital art, Kingsbury also focused on painting at the start of his artistic career. His early work led to shows at the Pierogi Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, along
with its Flat File Program, a collection of works by international artists. Other gallery shows soon followed. He was also featured at the Outsider Art Fair, a large show of work by self-taught artists, for four consecutive years in a variety of venues. In 2019, he received the Ewing Arts Award which celebrates the diversity and excellence of artists in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire.
Kingsbury’s artistic process is labor-intensive. It involves multiple layers of polyurethane, acrylic paint and black lines drawn in stages, all of which allows a subtle transition of color that “creates contrasts in beautiful ways,” as he put it. Once eight or nine layers are completed open spaces can be filled intuitively with white lines. It takes a lot of patience, the artist said, because he engages with the work while creating it, asking himself what needs to change to allow certain imagery to pop out from the painting. “I get excited to see something I can produce that is visually interesting and at the same time relates to what I am experiencing spiritually,” he said.
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