KEVIN WENDALL (FA-Q)

About

Kevin Wendall (1956-2011), aka FA-Q, was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He moved to New York City in the 1980s where he became a part of The Rivington School, an irreverent group of artists living and working in the East Village at the time. After some time spent in NYC and falling victim to heavy drug usage, Wendall became a notorious legend known for his rough, rebellious nature and his hard street attitude. This energy came through in his paintings as his work straddles abstraction and portraiture, often through finger-painting techniques. 

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Wendall created hundreds of works depicting faces, all different and distinct, which engulf the viewer into the inner psyche of the artist. These works were an outpouring of emotion directly through his hands to the surface of the panel, paper, or canvas. The intense circular motions of paint and the arbitrary mixing of colors are a testament to this. The faces took inspiration from sources such as underground comics, Rat-Fink bubblegum cards, Mad Magazine, and African masks. Wendall cites additional influences such as Philip Guston and the Dutch COBRA art movement.

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Wendall’s work can be found in collections across the world including the Enrico Baj Collection, Santa Barbara Museum, Nagoya College of Art, University of Helsinki, Metropolitan Museum of Art – Artist Book Collection, Giancarlo Politti Collection, and Karel Appel Collection.