Urban Grit – Kai Hart

Urban Grit is a series of paintings completed in my artist studio in Winnipeg. I was working as a night guard at Union Station for Via Rail, and every night I was up on the train platform, the steel beams below and the skyscrapers above. The rust, dirt, the oil fuel for the trains, graffiti and concrete. The cold song of the prairie winds – solitude at last. Dozens of locks, doors and gates to secure. The repetition of routine. All of these things inspired and informed by artwork when I shuffled my body into the studio every early morning.

I stripped these elements down to their basic form; the scribbled repetition of lines mixed with straight structural lines. The greyscale and blues opposite to neon colours. My paintbrush moving to the speed of anxiety, trying to outrun the fear and awareness into my own mental health downward spiral. I was too stubborn and impatient to slow down, more layers and lines building up on the canvas. All in a chaotic layered expression of two years under multiple lockdowns and gripping isolation.

BIO
Kai Hart is an emerging contemporary artist from Toronto, currently based in Winnipeg. He is a graduate of the Fine Arts Studio program at Centennial College (2019). VEER way out of line was his first major series of works and was shown in the Corridor Gallery in 2019. He then travelled coast to coast across Canada for half a year, an experience that led to new opportunities and a different perspective to life. Kai was awarded a residency at Akin’s Collision Gallery in the financial district of Toronto in March 2020, where he focused on producing a wide variety of quarantine paintings before relocating to the prairies. In September of 2021 Kai was awarded a full scholarship to the prestigious School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa (SPAO), which he is currently completing their diploma program. Urban Grit is his first solo exhibition, to be shown at Leslie Grove Gallery in June 2022.

VEER is his ongoing visual language and dedication into non-representational compositions. Whether in his paintings or photography, his use of bold strokes and lines, textures and layers create an aggressive, yet contemplative art experience. The urban landscape, rust, graffiti, and decay inspire his work.