Kenny Pittock is a character out of his own contemporary artwork. Part genius, part goofy and 110% creative – he epitomises what it means to be an artist and to respect the work he creates.
“I always thought I would be a journalist… but then started to create through other mediums and then it evolved…” Kenny states.
Calling him an artist doesn’t do him justice. He paints, sculpts, draws, writes songs and blogs.
Kenny’s philosophy of ‘drawing without a destination’ has opened up a whole world of new experiences.
Kenny was creating way before money entered the equation. One year, he sketched passengers on the Belgrave train, while travelling to work in the city. With nearly 500 drawings kept in his bottom drawer, he was then approached by Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) to display these sketches in their NEW14 exhibition.
This venture was simply born out of wanting to pass the time and developing a unique idea. This, in turn, has created new opportunities for Kenny.
Last year, Kenny was asked to exhibit his own sculptures/pictures as part of the ‘Italian Culture from an Australian perspective’ exhibition, held in Rome – Italy (of course!). And since Kenny is Australian born and bred, the exhibition naturally had cheeky undertones of famous, flawed Italian-Australian pop culture. References to the red Ferrari cap, Godfather novel and of course, ceramic sculptures of Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael and Leonardo… from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series were all part of his Romantic Rome-Antics.
Through this adventure, Kenny took his experience one step further by visiting all the galleries, which featured a famous artist’s painting and proceeded to photograph each famous turtle with the famous painting by the famous painter. He now has pictures of Michelangelo with David (at the Academia, in Florence), Donatello with his David (at the Bargello, in Florence), Raphael with Madonna and Child (at the Uffizi, in Florence), and Leonardo with The Last Supper, (at the Santa Maria delle Grazie, in Milan).
Playing around with ideas and dedication in seeing a project through is his specialty. Take the Petrol Station next door to Woolworths, for example. In 2011 Kenny had a brilliant idea to photograph the Caltex Petrol Station… every day.
Easy? Well, you might think so. According to Kenny – it was an amazing, stressful but rewarding feat.
“Firstly, I missed out on going away with friends because I wouldn’t be here to take photographs everyday. In November, I thought I had appendicitis. I spent the night at the Angliss Hospital and all I could think of was if I needed surgery, I’d miss my photo opportunity. Another time, I was so sick that I only left the house to take one photo of the petrol station. I had to.”
This shows a man of honour – a person dedicated to his craft.
Kenny was then asked to showcase The Petrol Station Everyday of 2011 in a show called ‘Anything, Everything and One Other Thing’, at Sydney Gallery – Alaska Projects.
His words of wisdom is to create first and opportunities will come later.
Kenny is becoming well known for his contemporary Australiana outlook in life. He has been commissioned work from the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), he’s being noticed by some big names (we won’t mention the photograph with Paul McCartney – yes, the Beatles Paul McCartney).
Kenny’s contemporary creative curiosity allows us to view the world on a different level… and the world is much better for it.
Click here for Kenny Pittock’s Website and other mis-adventures.
Click here for Kenny Pittock’s Facebook Page and here for his instagram page.
This article was also featured in The Foothills Magazine – Edition 25 (Art & Culture)
