Widely recognized for large scale “flower” paintings created using richly, textured oil paint, Kirk Mechar works in a variety of media including sculpture and photography and incorporates a range of materials alone and in combination, including, wood, marble dust, glass and clay.
Mechar’s work is incredibly labour-intensive with each piece shaped inside a process that takes hundreds of hours to complete. The elements ultimately coming together on board and straddle a subtle line between painting and sculpture. Holding at once two opposing ideas in his mind, this obsessive but prolific artist pushes the limits of his paint; a stratum of material built from multiple, layers of hand carved patterns.
The result becomes obvious in pieces that are at once organic yet tightly articulated, gently constrained but freely executed, easily accessible but still deeply imaginative and thoughtful. These works breath in an ethereal universe that is at once calm yet powerfully arresting. As both creator and archaeologist, burying the past and uncovering the present, Mechar has been able to push the boundaries of the decorative towards the boundaries of the discovered artefact.