Draper’s conception of space is never far from motion and structures that shape it. With Respect To The Killer In My Heart features a mechanized sculpture, building structures, and evidentiary photographs integrated in the crafting of his Brutalist narrative.
Dominant Landscape 1 and 2 are large abstract landscapes, hand printed on fabric up to twenty-two feet long which run the length of the gallery and show the passing of time through textures of urban decay, motion, and sudden stops. Delta, a handcrafted superbike, is a mechanical expression of the American id in aluminum. Figure A and Figure B, a set of sculptural figures with internally visible video and a soundtrack by Stelth Ulvang of The Lumineers, is a vision of dissolving in concert. Scans of a Bomb Site is a series of manipulated photographic works that catch pieces of the human body, toys, animals and, seemingly, the tragic scattered objects of a bombing site. The objects and images create a sense of perpetual transformation at speed. “I am focused on the breakdown of Modernism as a language. Brutalism has emerged as the style of the past that fits best now.” says Draper. “These pieces are from a distressingly near future dominated by force.”
ABOUT Kevin Draper
Kevin Draper (b. 1967, Maple City, MI) is an architect, sculptor, and technologist who captures the unexpected momentum of the creative process. Themes of time as distance covered, disjuncture, motion, and formal systems versus internal reality are seen throughout his work.
After a After a few years working as a mechanical engineer and artist, Draper completed a Masters in Architecture at the University of Michigan, studied art at Tulane University, and earned an Executive MBA at Notre Dame. In 2010 he moved to New York City. There, Draper founded Satellite Collective, a vibrant and innovative community of creatives that has produced award-winning theater productions, films, music recitals, dance performances, and multimedia exhibits.
His most recent show, The Cartoon Before the Movie was at Mriya Gallery, Tribeca, New York, May, 2024, and Draper’s films showed at CANADA gallery, Tribeca, New York, August, 2024.
Draper’s work has appeared at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Brooklyn Academy of Art, and 92NY. His Sad Blimp commission flew at Rosa Parks Circle, Grand Rapids, Michigan and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. Draper’s worked has anchored several performances at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and earned Draper and Satellite Collective Citations for Achievement In The Arts from the Borough of Brookly and Mayor Eric Adams.
Draper’s connection to the themes of the show is personal. “I grew up in rural America where religion and guns are woven into the fabric of life. I saw SWAT teams flushing extremists out with helicopter squadrons when they killed a policeman or something like that and it seemed normal. We just seem to understand a certain number of us Americans are killers. It can be found in our hearts,” he said. “This show examines something frightening about it, which is that in America the violence is fast becoming an attribute of beauty.”
Visit: https://.kevindraper.org.
