“I refer to my work as ‘sophisticated chaos,’ where a structured drawing gives way to an expressive painting, resulting in a beautiful mess,” says Ken Karlic. “Drawn to scenes of complex forms, I find beauty in the streets, scaffolding, and grit of everyday life. I strive to express how something feels rather than simply how it looks, and to capture the physicality of a subject with bold brushwork and rich textures. My paintings have a basis in the representational, but often dissolve into varying levels of abstraction.
“For me, watercolor is an invitation to experiment. I enjoy the quality of pigments and how they behave, but I love when I can encourage them to misbehave, embracing how they fall apart — beautifully and often with granulating effects — to create textures unachievable by any other means or media. I mix directly on the paper, and allow the paint to drip, run, and splatter as it will. My approach is as much a part of the work as the subject is, with marks, scratches, drips, and splatters all creating a physical presence in the final piece.
“I paint quickly and loosely, looking to achieve as much action and color variety on the paper as I can. More is more — and for me it’s watercolor that makes that possible. I wet areas, scrub them out, add and subtract, create and destroy, and repeat over and over, modifying the whole time. My painting method — and the end result — can be incredibly frenzied and frenetic.”
Ken Karlic captures scenes directly from nature. Explore ways to put your own unique spin on the landscape at this spring’s Plein Air Convention & Expo, May 19-23, 2025.
