Some Art I Liked: Five Minutes on Keiran Brennan Hinton
Keiran Brennan Hinton: Throughout the Day, 2023
(Above: Throughout the Day, 2023, Keiran Brennan Hinton, oil on linen, 50 x 42 in) Click to enlarge.
TL;DR:
Artist Status: Keiran is a young emerging artist with a couple of solo exhibitions under his belt (aka ‘seed stage’).
Price: His paintings start around $4k and up, depending on size.
Where else can I see his work? His next solo exhibition will open at Charles Moffett Gallery on September 8. (New York).
Keiran Brennan Hinton was born in 1992 in Toronto and splits his time between Elgin, Canada and New York City. He received his BFA from Pratt Institute in 2014 and his MFA from Yale University in 2016.
His Style
Keiran focuses his work on intimate spaces. He begins by stationing in a spot—in the example above, a living room corner—and meticulously documents the beauty in what we might consider mundane environments. He builds such specificity in the picture, like items on the coffee table and the mismatched pillows, that the scene seems ready to unfurl and move before our eyes.
His creative process is unhurried: a medium-sized oil painting takes Keiran a week to complete, mostly due to changes in light over time. The paintings aren’t necessarily technically precise, but the gorgeous portrayal of light conveys a sense of warmth and tenderness. For me, this painting triggers memories of warm afternoons spent with family (i.e., summer vibes).
Contemporary Context
Keiran is influenced by plein air painting, a French expression meaning ‘in the open air’. Traditional plein air painters focus on the expanse of outdoor landscapes and highlight the beauty of their settings by capturing the realistic interplay of light, color, and movement on their subjects. Impressionist artists such as Claude Monet are probably the most familiar practitioners of the technique.
(Above: Water Lilies, 1919, Claude Monet, oil on canvas, 40 x 79 in) Click to enlarge.
What’s unique with Keiran’s work is he inverts the setting by moving indoors yet still skillfully wields light, movement and specific colors. In the painting below, the viewer can almost feel the warm afternoon light bathing the room. The changing floor colors are a reflection of the drifting shower curtain. Finally, the curtain’s fluorescent yellow and pink hues remind you this is a room from our era.
(Above: Schoolhouse Bath, 2021, Keiran Brennan Hinton, oil on linen, 54 x 42 in) Click to enlarge.
(Above: Night Stove, 2021, Keiran Brennan Hinton, oil on linen, 24 x 18 in) Click to enlarge.
Keiran began this work on interior space work while the COVID pandemic confined much of the world to their homes. There’s a sense of familiarity to these rooms, and his tender portrayal feels like a way of showing appreciation to the spaces that nurtured us during that period of upheaval.
Impact
Keiran has shown work in solo and group exhibitions in Toronto, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Montreal and Stuttgart. He also just completed the Beecher Residency in Littfield, CT.
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