146:, which allowed him to paint constantly for two years. The ability to work on his art without interruption was a hugely positive influence in the artist's life. When his grant money ran out, Kanevsky decided to commit to pursuing a career as a full-time artist. Galleries eventually responded to his work, providing him with the means to rent studio space. Since that time, Kanevsky has exhibited his work throughout the United States,
126:. It was here that the artist began to gain exposure to a more extensive artistic network. At the time, an expressionistic school existed in Lithuania that was unconcerned with realism or social issues. Observing this style of artwork proved to be eye opening to Kanevsky and he realized âthat paintings could find the reason for their existence within themselves rather than being merely a decoration of a propaganda tool.â
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as a medium. The merging of figuration and abstraction in his artworks is the result of the process of erasure that
Kanevsky employs. This technique of painting, rubbing out, and painting over results in a series of layers through which past iterations and experimentations are visible to the viewer.
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Kanevsky's works are primarily concerned with the expression of time and movement. Taking the figure as his primary subject matter, the artist's abstracted versions of reality seek to convey his personal and particular worldview with âextreme clarity.â Exploring stillness and speed simultaneously,
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Kanevsky's figures inhabit mysterious landscapes and ambiguous architecture that shift between the recognizable world and pure form and color.< Nudes feature prominently in his oeuvre and are often depicted bathing, lying on beds or floors, or boldly facing the viewer. His paintings, despite
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in 1963. Although he did not come from an artistic family, Kanevsky's parents owned a large collection of art books that were formative to his early introduction to art. Around age ten, he began producing paintings, drawing inspiration from his art books. Despite his interest in the
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paintings during his childhood. The artist recalls these works as being âthe usual official drivel about workers and peasants engaged in heroic toil, done up in the style of the time, both bombastic and sentimental, heavy on dappled sunlight and Popeye-esque forearms.â
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sensibility through his multilayered canvases. His compositions frequently juxtapose static, monumental objects with quick, expressive brushstrokes in order to suggest that people are defined by their motion and actions, rather than their physical place in the world.
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in
Lithuania. However, in 1983, Kanevsky and his family decided to leave Europe and go to the United States. Settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he began taking painting classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1989.
81:. His works combine abstraction and figuration in multilayered portraits that capture movement and the constant flow of time, resisting adherence to a single moment. Kanevsky's work is rooted in the artistic traditions of
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Kanevsky describes himself as a slow painter who must operate quickly to maintain a fresh approach to his work. Generally, he paints directly on birch plywood or stretched linen with various types of oil paint â
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having titles, do not usually have a linear narrative. Rather, the titles function as tools, âmostly to accomplish certain precise emotional climates than to tell a story.â
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is evident in the artist's fleshy, abstracted figures. Meanwhile, the roots of
Kanevsky's color can be found in the works of
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Birmingham, Pamela, Alex
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McCann, Margaret. âRefiguring
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Kanevsky feels a deep connection to art history, especially to the masters of portraiture
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The Figure: Painting, Drawing, and
Sculpture â Contemporary Perspectives
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From 2002-2017, Kanevsky had been an adjunct painting instructor at the
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When
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Initially, he studied theoretical mathematics at the
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