Artist Statement
Ivan Kende
A few years ago there was a moment of joyful comprehension. The magical beauty and elegant simplicity, the palpably coarse and tactile quality of the Neolithic cave paintings at Lascaux and Altamira left me awestruck.

This revelation transformed an earlier, delicate, Conté drawing series on paper into
large, gritty, pastel drawings on canvas. Since then various archaic themes, ancient art forms and wisdom traditions, have become the source as well as the intent of my imagery.

These works represent my continual search for a more simplified form of drawing
that delivers a sense of the modern, the ancient and sometimes a touch of the
primordial.