K E N   A U S T E R

Please click on the link below to view a video of Ken Auster in Carmel

Ken Auster visits New Masters Gallery in Carmel.  
 

    
    A Merry Old Soul                                                       The Beautiful View        
24" x  30"                                                                                                  12" x  16"    
               

       
                     Them's Fightin' Words                                                       Knock Out Punch        
                         24" x  30"                                                                                                      24" x  20"
 

          
                         Do I Know You                                                                        Backlit           
                                           24" x  30"                                                                                                       84" x  60"              
                                                    SOLD                                                                                                                                                   


    
                    Light Rail                                                                   Did He Pay?                
                                9" x  12"                                                                        9" x  12"                               
                                  SOLD                                                                                                                       
 

     
                                           Union Study                                                                    Direct Cable                                           
                                      24" x  30"                                                                          12" x 16"                                      
       



         
 
                                     Bird Feeder                                                                   Light em' up                             
              9" x  12"                                                                            9" x  12"            
                        
 

     
                                    Irish Coffee                                                             It's Good to be King                         
                               24" x  30"                                                                        48" x  60"                                
                                                                                      SOLD

 

          
                                            Carmel Cruzers                                 Into the Light                                       Weeee...                                           
        9" x  12"                                             9" x  12"                                            9" x  12"       

                            

            
                                                   Fill er' up                                        The Big Four                                  Wax on - Wax off                                       
      9" x  12"                                            13" x  19"                                              9" x  12"

            


         
                                       Chowder?                                         Nighthawk                                    Fog City Diners                             
                 9" x  12"                                              9" x  12"                                             9" x  12"               

 

                                
Down From Chinatown                           Lahaina Harbor                                 Under the Gate
     9" x  12"                                               9" x  12"                                                9" x  12"
                                                


                
                          The Shinning                                       Safe Harbor                                     Maui Ohama                        
  9"  x  12"                                                9"  x  12"                                         9"  x  12"

              

             
                                               Lahina                                         Brunch Bunch                                  Brunch in B Flat                                      
      9" x  12"                                            9" x  12"                                                 9" x  12"

                     

  
 
              
Hills of San Francisco                                        Trans-San                                           Fall Migration   
                                         20" x  16"                                                     9" x  12"                                                    84" x  60"                                    
                                                                                                                                                     
      


                     
                   Walking the Line                                   Pourin' Stars                                           Silhouette                        
                         75" x  96"                                              9" x  12"                                                  9" x  12"                          
                                                                                                                                                        

 
                  
                                 Heaven's Gate                                        Market-eers                                         Got Water                               
                                  84" x  60"                                                 48" x  48"                                             16" x  12"                                     
                                    SOLD                                                      SOLD                                                                                                   

                                        
 Here come the Red's                              New York Giants                                       Taking Orders      
  56" x  34"                                                48" x  36"                                               56" x  34"

                      

              
It's not my Job!                                                                     Scaila Wags      
           40" x  40"                                                                             
48" x  48"              
                                        
 

Biography

"For it was in his formative years in Long Beach, California, where Ken grew up with his feet deeply planted in the surfing culture, that he first learned to express his art talent. Caught up in the ground swell of the 1960s surfing culture, Ken not only plunged into the sport of surfing but into the art and graphics of surfing as well.

While working his way towards a Bachelor in Fine Arts degree from Long Beach State University, Ken built one of the world's most prominent silkscreen and T-shirt companies, creating now-legendary surfing art that adorned surfers from Belmont Shores to Hawaii to Mexico. His surfing images, silk-screened as original prints on paper, became the "fine art" of this beach culture, and today, represent the classic surf art of the past century.

At the heart of Ken's work was always the awareness of the fine line between man-made and nature. In the mid-1990s, Ken moved to a more serious art level - involving him with the immediacy of oil paints as opposed to the process-burdened medium of printmaking. Throwing himself into the splendor of "plein air" (on location) painting, Ken discovered the richness and broad colors of the city life he long avoided. As he will tell you, he rejoiced in this newfound ability to paint anything and everything - cafes, train stations, airports, street scenes, and of course, never far away, was the beach, his first love.

The transition from surf art to serious impressionism was natural for Ken - his passion and obsession to reach a new understanding between himself and the oil painting medium took on a new intensity of discovery. "I simply want to achieve the ultimate communication on the canvas - to say more with less," Ken says.

His deft use of color. His economies of brush strokes. His simple, yet beautifully structured compositions. As one famous critic described - "each painting captures a moment in time charged with a hint of narrative drama. And each is rendered with such vibrant immediacy that a single glance excites other senses as well."

Ken's passion for painting is shared with hundreds of students who each year travel from around the world to attend his workshops in Laguna Beach and Carmel. With his life partner, Paulette Martinson, they have a thriving art world centered at their studio and gallery in picturesque Laguna Canyon.

In a relatively short time since this transition to plein air painting, Ken Auster has moved to the forefront of American contemporary impressionists. He consistently walks away with gold medals and first place awards at juried exhibits. His work is collected by some of the most respected galleries and patrons.

Renowned for his classic surf art, Ken Auster now sees and paints a bold, dynamically changing world, whether it is London, Venice (Italy), San Francisco, Carmel, Napa Valley, or Baja, Mexico. He shares with us the uncomplicated but moving stories on canvas - simply and effectively, documenting the ordinary in an unordinary manner.

And what about his surfing? Well, if the surf is flat, you'll find Ken in his studio. But when the surf is "up", you'll find Ken, most likely, filling his other passion."
Biography supplied by the artist.

                                     Other paintings by this artist are available upon request.                                         

 

 

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