Kurt Buckley (b. 13th November 1994 Southampton, UK)
Studied BA Fine Art Drawing at Camberwell College of Arts, UAL (2016-19)

Buckleys work explores themes of mortality and timelessness through obsessive accuracy. 

He works with graphite and charcoal, and manipulates his medium to achieve the true textures and marks he strives for. Historically, both mediums have been an exploratory tool but rarely chosen for the final product. They have allowed for artists to have the luxury of making mistakes, giving them the opportunity to feel comfortable in a state of vulnerability when making work. 

His portraits have their own stories to tell. Each blemish is evidence of time passing and a mark of life experiences. This particular moment is immortalised through the camera lens and then again by the portrait. Despite relying on photographs for reference, his work goes beyond the image to create an aesthetic that belongs solely to him. 

He aims to capture the emotional resonance of his subjects through his obsessive approach to image making; Inviting the viewer in to have a close and intimate encounter, immortalising ones image; locked in time. Within a world, too loud with images and in the generation of social media, his work encourages the audience to take a moment to explore what it means to be human, to acknowledge the intricacies and complexities of another’s face in the same detail that he was able to witness it.

He believes that his energy and sentiment is somehow trapped on the surface of his drawings. The physical mark making and closeness creates another level of intimacy between himself and his work which he hopes to give back to the viewer. In contemporary society, we are so accustomed to witnessing images in pixels, through screens or panels, it is an important task for him to restore that energy in each one of his drawings. Motivated by his own expectations and romanticised ideals of human identity, he asks the question: What does it mean to be human?

© Kurt Buckley