We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ken Womack a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ken, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

In the last two years I have honed in on an artistic approach / style that is connecting with people, and to my past. As a kid I loved to construct things. Starting with Legos as a small child and working up to models – cars planes, Estes Rockets. Something about building resonated with me. And now 50 years later I am making models of my own design, but without a kit. Also, with a subject matter that is largely informed by my 35-year career in advertising and marketing, and infused with pop culture iconography (those things are inextricably connected, no surprise).

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

The functional mission of my art practice is to create interesting conceptual ideas and then execute them in memorable ways. I try to add something (anything!) fun / shiny / noisy / interactive to the piece to make it more stimulating. I want to evoke a “wow!”, and there is great intention in executing my work in unexpected ways toward that end.

I primarily create oversized sculptures that are painted and contain kinetic elements: lights, motion, electronics, neon, metallics – anything that can create a reaction. Much of my subject matter involves the tension between consumers and brands. Many of my pieces use plywood and cardboard as basic building materials. There is something about the light weight strength and disposable nature of those elements that appeals to me. I also try to use recycled or repurposed materials if possible, because that satisfies a sense of turning discarded things into something of value. It also is a responsible way to approach art making, which is a nice side benefit.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I am finding that the direction of my art practice has two distinct dimensions. One, people are often attracted to my work because it’s visually unique, engaging or “fun”. Many pieces have motion or lights to draw attention. And people will take the work for face value, which I am cool with. But there is always a concept at the basis of the pieces. Sometimes it’s just the visceral connection we have with subject matter, as in “Because Bacon”, a 6-foot piece of bacon finger-painted in acrylics on plywood. I like to work with food as subject matter because of its elemental nature. We all consume food to live, yet food and eating are evocative. We celebrate and connect around food. Eating and food have been elevated to art status, and we all have such deep-seeded affinity for and memories associated with the foods we love (I love bacon, for example). The scale and over-the-top executions of the work help capture our emotional relationship with the subject.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I am very ambitious. In the last 20 years I’ve founded and operated 9 separate companies, and my goal is to elevate my art practice to a point where I have a successful, sustainable business and a global following. The oversized sculpture direction has gained a lot of traction of late, and I plan on using my advertising and marketing experience to help create the reality of my intention.

Because of the directional nature of my art practice (exploring the relationship between Americans and their products and brands) it‘s appropriately meta to embrace the monetization of the practice and to leverage all of the tools available to do so. It’s a an odd and sometimes conflicting mission, because Ars Gratia Artis is a notion to which I subscribe, and yet it can’t just be about art, we have to engage the business side of the industry in order to support the artistic mission. There is a poetry to this dynamic – art imitating (capitalistic) life as a way to “earn a living”.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kenwomack.com/
• Instagram: @kenwomack
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ken.womack.37
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-womack-4b13882/
• Yelp: [email protected]