The Milan
Exhibition:
The Legend of the West
This is the first exhibit in Europe
dedicated to this artist, with 55
works that celebrate the legend of
the West in the splendid Spazio San
Paolo Converso in Milan.
Tekne International, founded by
Gilberto Algranti and directed by
Cinzia Chiari, can take the credit
for making these enthralling works
known to Milanese audiences, Alan A.
Arne, Tekne International’s agent in
America, whose passion for art
brought him to meet the artist in
2004 at The Festival of the West in
Scottsdale in Arizona, where Freeman
still lives with his companion
Bonnie Adams, a photographer who
often collaborates with him and whom
he calls his Muse.
"My
paintings are getting better thanks
to her," he says, smiling.
n
his works, Freeman represents
photographic excerpts of the life of
the cowboy, of Indian children, of
herds out to pasture and rodeos –
all elements that, as if by magic,
transport the viewer in that
legendary place that makes us all,
in a certain sense, children again
and he often does this not only with
the images, but also through his use
of color. His reds are so close to
reality that they stimulate
sensations and memories. The
extraordinary, truthful pictorial
details make each painting an
immersion in a fantastic world that
enables us to savor the beauty of a
culture that is as far from European
western culture as it is
extraordinarily authentic.
Kenneth admits that
he had always dreamed of being a
cowboy and, despite the use of
photography, the pictorial rendering
that verges on perfection and – it
really must be said – at times
improves on it, is not enough
because «I believe that the artist
must be physically in a place in
order to experience it and paint it
in the right way.
"Photographs
help authenticity, but the
atmosphere can only be captured by
spending a little time in a place."
The artist, who is
now sixty-nine, left Chicago in
1983, shortly after concluding a
forty year-long career as an
illustrator, and moved to Arizona to
live in close contact with his
passion.
He nostalgically
remembers how, as a child, he spent
his Saturdays at the cinema in
adoration of his idols like Gene
Autry and Tom Mix:
"It’s something I
love. That I live."
Some
of his portraits are symbolic, like
the painting Wedding Ceremony,
with its intense, warm chromatic
passages that exalt anatomies that
recall the sacred ceremony of
Wedding Cherokee, and the
initiatory gesture of Kiowa
Naming Ceremony where the entire
family accompanies the not-yet-born
child with propitiatory gestures.
"The
clothing and atmosphere are
intimately moving – almost as if
they want to lead us into the
pictorial fabric; recondite desire
that the expressions on the faces,
which are charged with sadness,
mystery, reflection and pride,
convey to us," adds Freeman.
The
naturalness of the poses in Power
of the Basket where a Navajo
woman teaching the children is
surprising, as is the basketwork of
the strands of hemp to make baskets
or the elderly woman whose skin
bears the signs of time, intent on
spinning wool like her ancestors
did, like a sign of ideal
continuity.
The
beautiful little girl who sells her
clay cat, the Sioux warriors or the
little Hopi ceremonial dancer are
all images immortalized in the time
that lends them charm and delight,
like the innocent gesture of the
embrace of the child with a sheep, a
work that Freeman titles We All
Need a Hug.
And
that’s exactly how it is!
