Details:

This ceramic painting depicts a man playing saxophone alone in the woods under a moon. While the illustrative style and content is suggestive of a children's book, there is rarely a clear narrative in McNamee-Tweed's work. Instead, he juxtaposes images that are seldom seen together, hoping to induce contemplation, speculation and laughter.
Unframed

① Artwork:

Saxophone Evening

This ceramic painting depicts a man playing saxophone alone in the woods under a moon. The illustrative style and content of the work is suggestive of a children's storybook. The artist's favorite objects are books and many of his works, including this one, resemble them in their modest size. This composition also demonstrates perfectly how drawing is central to McNamee-Tweed's practice—he incised a drawn line into the clay before glazing and firing it to create this ceramic painting.

Specs:

8 inches
10 inches
0.5 inches
10 inches

③ Artist:

Kevin McNamee-Tweed

Kevin McNamee-Tweed’s multifaceted studio practice encompasses paintings, monotypes and ceramic works. Drawing is central to his process, with each artwork a careful combination of humor and beauty. Many of his works are modest in scale and resemble books—which McNamee-Tweed values above all other objects, including art.

BIO:

Kevin McNamee-Tweed was born in Sanford, California in 1984. He received his MFA from the University of Iowa in Iowa City in 2020, as well as an MA from the same institution in 2019. He received his BFA from New York University in 2008.

Solo exhibitions of McNamee-Tweed’s work include: Fiction Workshop at Steve Turner in Los Angeles, California (2022); Natural Clock at Conduit Gallery in Dallas, Texas (2021); TIME IN THE TIME OF TIME at L21 Gallery in Mallorca, Spain (2021); Probable Presence at Steve Turner in Los Angeles, California (2021); Moon Over Math Town at Harper’s Books in New York City (2020); Tableaux Vivant at Steve Turner in Los Angeles, California (2020); Literature at Steve Turner in Los Angeles, California (2019); Beret Debt at Devening Projects in Chicago, Illinois (2019);Already Not Yet at Shrine Gallery in New York City (2018); Slow Rocket at 57W57 in New York City (2018); Little Hawk Field at Rod Barton in London, UK (2017); New Top Old Bottom at Left Field in San Luis Obispo, California (2017); The End at Bay Space in Portland, Oregon (2017); Self-Tourism at MoHA in Austin, Texas (2017); Handmade Books at The Menil Collection Bookstore in Houston, Texas (2016); Bread In North Carolina Butter In Tennessee at To_Bridges_, The Still House Group in New York City (2016); and 100 Views at Lower Left Gallery in Austin, Texas (2016); among others.

Group exhibitions that have shown McNamee-Tweed’s work include: EXPO Chicago (with Steve Turner) in Chicago, Illinois (2022); Untitled (with Steve Turner) in Miami Beach, Florida (2021); Future Fair (with Dutton Gallery) in New York City (2021); Our World at Steve Turner in Los Angeles, California (2020); Essential Goods at Fisher Parrish in New York City (2020); ALAC (with Steve Turner) in Los Angeles, California (2020); Sunday Art Fair (with Steve Turner) in London, UK (2019); Art Berlin (with Steve Turner) in Berlin, Germany (2019); Enter Art Fair (with Steve Turner) in Copenhagen, Denmark (2019); Free Spirit News: Fourth Dimensional Issues at Melanie Flood Projects and Adams and Ollman in Portland, Oregon (2019); Summer Soup at Three Four Three Four in Brooklyn, New York (2019); Highway Blues at Underdonk in New York City (2019); Power of Ten at Steve Turner in Los Angeles, California (2019); Art Brussels (with Steve Turner) in Brussels, Belgium (2019); Untitled, Art at Miami Beach (with Steve Turner) in Miami, Florida (2018); Pablo at Cabinet Printemps in Dusseldorf, Germany (2018); Swab Barcelona Contemporary Art Fair (with Dutton Gallery) in Barcelona Spain (2018); Spring 1883 (with Dutton Gallery) in Melbourne, Australia (2018); Afire at Skylab Gallery in Columbus, Ohio (2018); All You Can See at Rizzutto Gallery in Palermo, Italy (2018); NADA New York (with Dutton Gallery) in New York City (2018); Born To Run at Lane Meyer Projects in Aspen, Colorado (2017); Another Place at Shrine in New York City (2017); Spring 1883 (with Dutton Gallery) in Sydney, Australia (2017); GIFC at The Hole in New York City (2017); Eyes Ears Nose Etc Etc at Left Field in San Luis Obispo, California (2017); Zing Zam Blunder at Harbinger Projects in Reykjavik, Iceland (2017); Mysticeti: Jonathan Ryan Storm & Kevin McNamee-Tweed at Molasses Books in Brooklyn, New York (2017); All American at PM/AM in London, UK (2017); GIFC at Art Athina in Athens, Greece (2017); and Part IV at Magic the Gallery in Austin, Texas (2017); among others.

In 2019, McNamee-Tweed was awarded a Mildred Pelter Fellowship. The artist was awarded a Wilhelm and Jane Bodine Fellowship in Iowa City, Iowa in 2018, and an Iowa Arts Fellowship in 2017. Also in 2017, McNamee-Tweed was an artist in residence at Bay Space in Portland, Oregon.

McNamee-Tweed lives and works in Durham, North Carolina.

Kevin McNamee-Tweed:
Saxophone Evening, 2021
Glazed ceramic
10.0 × 8.0 × 0.5 inches /