“Afterburner” TECHNE Art Center, Oceanside CA, April 27th, 2024

TECHNE is proud to present "Afterburner", a group show curated by Chuck Thomas featuring artists Jon Elliott, Jack Henry, Robin Kang, Dave Kinsey, Jason Clay Lewis, John Oliver Lewis, Mônica Lóss, Jessica McCambly, Tim Murdoch, Sasha Koozel Reibstein, and Allison Renshaw. Afterburner features artists that are pushing the limits of traditional and non-traditional materials in completely unexpected ways. The resulting transformations create surfaces where magic and science collide into whimsical and dazzlingly beautiful dioramas of seductively controlled chaos.

The exhibition examines the intellectual, philosophical, and scientific explorations that blur the boundaries between painting, installation, and sculpture. The primary focus of the show is the definition of art and the nature of these boundaries. In essence, the show advocates for an inclusive perspective that expands the limits of art, highlighting its boldest expressive virtues. The show delves into various limits, including those related to our senses and different perceptual modalities, the vagueness and fuzzy edges between different types of materials, and the level of human intention verses intervention in the artistic creative process. - Jason Clay Lewis

“Leucadia” Oolong Gallery, Encinitas CA, March 16th - April 20th, 2024

Oolong Gallery presents “Leucadia", a large scale salon style group exhibition with over 25 artists. The group show theme loosely focuses on the fleeting character of pre-gentrified LEUCADIA in North County, SD: a natural, spiritual, and funky coastal enclave of splendor. A percentage of proceeds from the sale of works to benefit to Solana Center for Environmental Innovation in Encinitas CA.

“Matches Struck Unexpectedly In The Dark” ONEROOM Gallery, London, February 17th - March 5th, 2022

ONEROOM Gallery London is pleased to present ‘Matches struck unexpectedly in the dark’ a group show featuring works by Michael Chance, Antonio Fabozzi, Alessandro Keegan, Dave Kinsey, Anna Krzanowska and Kemi Onabule. Curated by Samuele Visentin

“Void Is Sensation” New Release, New York, April 18th - May 22nd, 2021

New Release New York presents Void Is Sensation, a group exhibition including Louis Appleby, Hannah Beerman, TJ Bohm, Michael Childress, Aisling Hamrogue, Dave Kinsey, Hiejin Yoo and Monsieur Zohore. Curated by Erin Goldberger

Dave Kinsey “Strange Being”, Los Angeles, January 14th - February 26th, 2021

Kinsey’s latest exhibition “Strange Being” debuts his first collective body of work in almost two years. Created throughout 2020, this new series is an evocation of the internal struggles of the pandemic, climate-related catastrophes, and political & social upheaval that has reshaped our state of being, as beings.

This recent series—with its deep hues and darkened palette—acts as a deposit of emotional experiences and reflects on the reshaping of human existence. These spatial settings emanate a melancholy temperament thru an absence of light. The figures are depicted as homogenous and therefore symbolic in relating to us all.

ICA San Diego (formally LUX Art Institute) Encinitas CA, January 12th - March 30th 2019

Dave Kinsey explores duality and scale in his dynamic practice that includes paintings and sculpture in his first solo museum exhibition. He represents societal fragmentation through the invention of figures made of vibrant colors and flat shapes, taking on dimensionality as they teeter in a delicate balance. Occupying vast landscapes, his paintings adapt a monumentality that is reflected in his large scale sculpture and murals. The sublime meets the surreal in Kinsey’s work where perceptions of flatness engage with depth and small clashes with the grand.

"For Better or Worse" hosted by: (F-U) For The Unconventional, Los Angeles, September 7th - 9th 2018

(F-U) For the Unconventional is pleased to present For Better or Worse, a two-person pop-up exhibition featuring new work from KINSEY and JAYBO. After traveling on separate but intertwining artistic journeys throughout their careers—immersed in 80s and 90s underground street culture and design—both artists have embarked on new paths in recent years, moving outside of their comfort zones and the stylistic origins that shaped their work up to this point. The exhibition’s title, For Better or Worse, reflects this decision, as each fearlessly embraces new aesthetic territory, without regrets or second-guessing.

"Subliminal Sanctuary" Jules Maeght Gallery, San Francisco, February 8th - April 28th 2018

Jules Maeght Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition Subliminal Sanctuary, an exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Cécile Granier de Cassagnac and KINSEY. Presenting their work together for the first time, they enter into a dialogue about the relationships between art, humanity and nature while guided by intuition and spontaneity.

Both the French painter Cécile Granier de Cassagnac and the American painter KINSEY take a contemporary approach to painting outdoor environments. Building on the landscape painting of the Surrealist painters of the 1930s, they paint the perception of landscape, birds and trees, rather than seeking to “recreate reality” with recognizable elements. Using a combination of natural and non-natural tones, and oftentimes experimental applications of paint and surface, Granier de Cassagnac and KINSEY explore their own emotional understanding of the natural world around them through repetition of distinct motifs.

"MOJAVE" hosted by: (F-U) For The Unconventional, Los Angeles, September 30th 2017

Somewhere between isomorphic spaces and harsh limitations lies a landscape of open possibilities. Defined by endless mountain ranges and xeric, hostile conditions the Mojave desert provokes a force of new abstract ideas and imagined realities in an exclusive new body of work by KINSEY.

Wheeling through off-roads in an effort to document and comprehend these realities it was clear that these ideas were multi-layered and a self-expression of the inner place inspired by the open spaces in the natural world. "It's not an attempt to recreate reality, but rather distort and manipulate my experience. I like to visually convey the world in ways that challenge our perception of it." Having strayed from the figurative forms and elements that defined his past works, KINSEY’s style of paintings began to lend itself to three-dimensional form. “With this series, I’m pulling from the shapes and totem-esque nature of the plants and rock formations I was drawn to during my time in Mojave. When I began to create the sculptures, I free-styled the shapes with the jigsaw which I felt was akin to how the plants, rocks and desert settings seem as if they were placed and created in an almost effortless way—I always feel nature is so perfect in its spontaneous formation, seeming as if it was in fact planned.” So began his exploration into sculpture and the continued evolution of his abstract work.

"Van Gogh Ate My Dog" Kallenbach Gallery, Amsterdam, June 29th - September 30th 2017

After a recent sold-out solo show in LA, Jaybo Monk is returning to Amsterdam for his third exhibition here. This time in a unique duo show with renowned American artist KINSEY. For their exhibition in The Netherlands they decided to take inspiration from the life and work of Vincent van Gogh. One example of the Dutch Master’s infamous trials and tribulations and his posthumous fame is Jaybo Monk’s sculpture ‘Pile of Insanity’; consisting of 40 ceramic ears. Each of the ears is labeled with the name of artists that became famous after Van Gogh’s death. KINSEY’s paintings and works on paper in the show reference Van Gogh’s distinctive subject matter, but all encompass the true and unmistakable surrealist landscapes the LA artist has become famous for.

"Momentary Bliss" New Image Art, Los Angeles, January 14th - February 11th 2017

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New Image Art is pleased to present “Momentary Bliss" a solo exhibition featuring Los Angeles based painter Dave Kinsey. Kinsey will be exhibiting a series of new paintings in his noted abstract style alternating between form and loaded paint-filled strokes affirming his ability to create expressionistic forms of tonality, texture, and emotion. Kinsey's work is reminiscent of the Dada/Surrealist approach of Max Ernst, using a subdued palette and abstract forms to communicate feelings of discovery and revelation. After residing in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and recently relocating back to a downtown Los Angeles studio, Kinsey brings forth a new series of evocative pieces that reflect the frantic nature of his personal experience and the chaotic existence of man and nature co-existing and competing in the contemporary world.

"The Modern Condition" FFDG, San Francisco, August 14th - September 12th, 2015

These latest works are a continuation of where Kinsey left off with his last show CUSION OF MEMORY at the famed Library Street Collective in Detroit. He is currently taking cues from the natural world when it comes to the overall aesthetic of these sculpturesque paintings, set within dreamlike landscapes using detailed yet suggestive imagery, tones and textures. These works are imbued with semi-abstracted figures and objects that become metaphors or symbols that ambiguously reference contemporary issues such as overpopulation, money, power, climate change, consumerism and the everyday dynamics of contemporary life.

Kinsey says, “The most difficult thing about creating a painting is going through the process of finding a connection in what I see and feel in the world around me, while also seeking a visual harmony between the beauty and chaos of the human experience.” This body of work encapsulates that balance and provides a diverse and energetic aesthetic of that environment.

"Ashes to Ashes" Galerie Die Kunstagentin, Cologne Germany, February 6th - March 3rd, 2015

"Cushion of Memory" Library Street Collective, Detroit, September 27th - November 8th 2014

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Library Street Collective is very proud to announce CUSHION OF MEMORY, a solo exhibition of works by renowned artist Dave Kinsey. There are few artists whose work can evolve into something so different than their earlier work and make it look like graceful maturation. A master of self exploration who generously shares his soulful journey with us, Kinsey taps into not only his, but our own wildest fantasies. this body of work represents an awakening of sorts, with a new creative center deep in the Sierra Nevada mountains it's hard not to see natures bountiful inspiration reflected in Kinsey’s dreamlike compositions.

"Everything At Once" Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, December 13th - January 12th 2013

Joshua Liner Gallery is pleased to present Everything at Once, an exhibition of over thirty intense, high-energy paintings and works on paper by Los Angeles-based artist Dave Kinsey. This is Kinsey’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. As the show title suggests, Kinsey attempts to convey a world gone mad with media, perpetual conflict, and a sense of the mounting struggle between the urban and natural worlds. Kinsey creates this new body of work through a brash synthesis of materials, textures, and aesthetics, conjuring multilayered abstractions with traces of figuration which create dynamic transformations of images within images.

Through his work, Kinsey explores themes of data domination and distortion, political upheaval, and the search for genuine identity in an age of virtual (or illusory) reality. According to the artist, “Collectively, the developed world is swimming in modern media; we’re learning to navigate this landscape every day while becoming unwittingly addicted, for better or worse. And that’s simultaneously exhilarating and a little scary. Throw in climate change and you’ve got a scenario worthy of our attention.”

"New Works" Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, September 9th - October 9th 2010

Joshua Liner Gallery is pleased to present Dave Kinsey: New Works, an exhibition of mixed-media paintings by the Los Angeles-based artist. This full-gallery show marks Kinsey’s debut solo exhibition at Joshua Liner and first solo exhibition in nearly 2 years. Working in acrylic, spray paint, paper, wood, and ink on canvas, Dave Kinsey’s works of raw emotion draw their energy, style, and often substance from abstract expressionism mixed with modern urban hieroglyphics. His dynamic figures are situated within multi-layered, multi-textured atmospheres of pure abstraction. These beings—displaying a mixture of defiance, triumph, and tragedy—transmit their forceful spirit through Kinsey’s range of mediums, signature style and high-contrast color palette.

Among this suite of medium- to large-sized paintings, the Continuum series (I, II & III) makes a powerful impact with its repeated skull and flower imagery. Viewers peer through a transparent layer of  ghostlike skulls (human, animal) to a second layer of delicately rendered flowers (roses, peonies) then even deeper to an explosive, silhouetted background of chaos that hints of classic graffiti tags. Serving as contemporary vanitas, these layers of wildly contrasting content and graphic styles resolve into complex, feeling-toned compositions. Kinsey’s portrait paintings, like King of Pop, Radio in a Box, Black Rain, and Man from Topanga, enlist these gripping contrasts in color, mark-making, and layering into finely tuned portrayals of emotional extremes. Where figures’ physical features are shut down or lack obvious expression, color and abstract forms serve to reveal and cathect underlying psychological states.

The artist suggests an even deeper resonance in his depiction of extreme contrasts, writing, “In this new body of work I explore emotional and environmental boundaries as I perceive them, in the context of the growing discord between humanity and nature. In the cyclical reality of our physical existence, beauty and death are ultimately dancing partners.”

"Sure, Why Not" BLK/MRKT Gallery, Los Angeles, October 20th - November 17th 2007

Kinsey's much-anticipated return to BLK/MRKT Gallery is punctuated by a bold new series of paintings that examine the role of identity in contemporary life—powerful images that simultaneously invoke the burden and frustration of apathy and the helpless rage of defeat. Straying from the figurative work for which he is best known—namely large-scale gallery and street installations that have attracted both national and international audiences—Kinsey takes cues from the current cultural climate to examine the intersection between the urban landscape and the human condition. In this new creative space, he examines the point where the abstract and figurative collide and the visual dialogue informed by that impact emerges. And while this new series of mixed media on canvas could be described as an evolution, traces of his signature visual language, in all its gritty and unvarnished glory, have not been abandoned. “The broken-up graffiti and abstract letterform references represent modern fingerprints of the urban environment,” Kinsey explains, “fragments and pieces act as a dialogue of conversations, identities, and messages.”

As always, Kinsey’s striking visuals urge audiences to take a closer look at the content of their surroundings; more is being asked of the viewer than to simply recognize that they should not blindly accept the circumstances of their existence. There is urgency in these paintings—a sense of restlessness with the world at large. “Apathy seems increasingly common in modern western culture,” Kinsey observes, “There is a general sense that people feel helpless or don't care to engage in issues that affect their lives and the lives of those around them.

Consumerism and even modern technology allows for an easy complacency.” Kinsey attacks these notions with thick swaths of black and red paint in wide gestures of movement that engage and bind the figures being depicted, at once suggesting victimization and complicity. Alluding to a not-so-distant heritage, yellowed pages of a vintage book peek out from behind the face of a troubled man; a lone tree is draped in white stars screened in red, bull rope wrapped tight around its trunk; a pair of aged eyes void of pupils stares past the viewer, tragic and abandoned. In addition to paintings on canvas, there will be a site-specific installation of canvases, backs facing forward, further exploring the notion of disconnect and non-resolution. In all, “Sure, Why Not” is an echo and call to reason.