The art of Michelle Dennis Kudyba. See more of her amazing work at Small Space Fest, opening June 20th!
Artist Statement: The donkey is a symbol I use to express specific experiences and social dynamics of humans. I am drawing upon my fascination with donkeys as a child, having grown up with them and always wanting to know more about them, somehow feeling connected. My mural sized paintings are created using my hands as a brush, actually sculpting them into the canvas with paint. When standing in front of the monumental scale of the donkeys, the viewer is the same size and able to identify with it even though it is not a human, the emotion seen and felt is intrinsically human. They are a visual interaction bridging the gap between man and animal. The way they are painted, their positions, and colors chosen become metaphors of specific human experiences, each telling it’s own story. The subject and the expression are most important to me. I do not try to render the donkey perfectly, but rather reveal his imperfections, and mine as an artist. Within these imperfections the individual personality of the subject is found.
