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BY DIANA BIRD
Rappahannock News Contributing Writer
Sperryville artist, Steven Kenny, has arrayed the walls of the Middle Street Gallery for a November exhibition with eleven of his oil paintings and one drawing. He makes plain his commercial illustrator origins with two pictures used to illustrate the front of a book and a journal.
The character of these two paintings, Premlata and The Grail, is rather different from most of his other work on display because their planned use called for a different emphasis from the paintings done for their own sakes.
•For Kennj^ nature deserves acute observation, i.e., flowers, trees, birds, insects. Everywhere he looks he sees gloriously colorful creations to celebrate in exquisite detail. He sometimes paints brown-skinned Oriental women of flawless complexion and seductive mien.
In a statement about his work he says, “Figures and landscapes have begun to visually merge in my paintings.” My impression is that his people are primarily vehicles for his joy in recreating images from nature.
This idea stems from the way he employs bust of women to carry crowns of flowers and other plants. While his women are prominent, up front figures, they seem to have only that one function.
This exhibition includes a rare portrait - one of himself in a regalia that he calls “Hanuman (Self Portrait)”, the Indian monkey god, celebrated in the epic poem Mahabaharata for helping the hero, Rama, construct a bridge between India and Ceylon.
But what is the meaning of the outsized mace and why does he wear a pagoda crown or helmet decorated with jewels? A long monkey’s tail is thrown forward over Kenny’s head and he has given
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