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| Ken Symonds |
Ken Symonds has lived and worked in Cornwall since 1960. He studied under Norman Blamey R.A. at the Polytechnic, Regent Street, London, winning a David Murray painting scholarship in 1952. He is incredibly well travelled, a passion that began when he undertook a drawing commission for a publisher travelling to both east and west Africa as a young man. He has since traversed much of Asia, America and the Far East.
Since moving to Cornwall he has become deeply involved in his environment; light, structure and tonality form the basis of his work. Painting landscapes with a gifted and distinctive hand, there is however a life force to his nudes. Ken adopts an unashamed, open voluptuousness, an element of eroticism even, that may be startling but is, above else, whole hearted and wholesome. Facing up to the demands and dangers of portraiture, Ken confronts the adventurous and seeks to say something different through a spontaneous mix of severity and subtlety that both impresses and inspires.
He is a Member of the Penwith Society of Arts, the Newlyn Society of Artists and the St. Ives Society of Artists. After winning a Frank Herring award, he was invited to become a Member of the Pastel Society, London in 1990.
One of his paintings was presented to the Government Collection to commemorate the gift of Cape Cornwall to the National Trust in 1987. In 1982 he was invited to America to hold 'workshops'. He was also invited to Bulgaria in 1992 as a representative for Britain at an international; 'Plein air' convention of painters in Smolyan.
Ken has taken part in numerous mixed exhibitions since 1952, and 14 one man shows in Cornwall, Birmingham, the Channel Islands and London. His work appears in many private and public collections including The City Art Gallery, Smolyan, Bulgaria, The Government Collection, Plymouth City Museum and Guernsey Museum.
