Kenneth Showell Artworks presents

Tea & Jazz

Selected Abstracts of Kenneth Showell (1939-1997)

Miro Tea

5405 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107

opens September 3, 2024

Purchase paintings here

Chasms Orange Study Red

1980, 12x18, Oil on Canvas

Napoli Study

1980, 18x24, Oil on Canvas

Tranes Sleeve Study

1980, 13x17, Oil on Canvas

Chasms Orange Study

1980, 16x24, Oil on Canvas

Tranes Sleeve Study Green

1980, 23X25.5, Oil on Canvas

Dashiell's Dream Study

1982, 24x12, Oil on Canvas

Miles Street Study

1978, 21.5 x 17.5 in, Oil on Canvas

Napoli V

1981, 72x24, Oil on Canvas

Isobel's Table I

1982, 48x42, Oil on Canvas

Chasms Orange I

1980, 72x24, Oil on Canvas

MSMS Court Study I

1981, 30x36, Oil on Canvas

MSMS CourtII

1982, 30x36, Oil on Canvas

MSMS Court Study 2

1982, 30x36, Oil on Canvas

Trane's Sleve IX

1981, 45 x 39.25, Oil on Canvas

Sea Jam X

1981, 30x36, Oil on Canvas

Sea Jam Study III

1981, 12 x 14, Oil on Canvas

Sea Jam Study IV

1981, 12x 14, Oil on Canvas

Showell Paints, New York, ca. 1980s (Copy)

Kenneth Showell and Lyrical Abstracts, New York, ca. 1970 (Copy)

Showell Studio, New York, ca. 1970 (Copy)

Showell, Time Lapse with Napoli and Other Works, New York, ca. 1980 (Copy)

Hannah Palin, Showell's Studio, New York, ca. 1970 (Copy)

Nikki Palin, Hannah Palin, Kenneth Showell, Indiana, ca. 1963 (Copy)

Kenneth Showell, Hannah Palin, Nikki Palin, Indiana, ca. 1962 (Copy)

Showell, New York, ca. 1969 (Copy)

Kenneth Showell, New York, ca. 1970 (Copy)

THE SHOW

In 2018, Hannah Palin, a Seattle film archivist, received a storage pod filled with work created by her estranged father, Kenneth Showell, a New York painter and photographer who died in 1997. Palin spent six years documenting, researching, and organizing her inheritance of over 1300 canvases, drawings, pastels, lithographs, and watercolors.

Showell’s abstract paintings of the late 1970s -1980s was pivotal linking his early Lyrical Abstracts to his later Landscapes. He listened exclusively to jazz while he painted, so the works in Tea and Jazz are influenced by those musicians and their compositions. The Sea Jam series is a riff on Duke Ellington’s C Jam Blues; Trane’s Sleeve refers to John Coltrane’s GreenSleeves; Miles Street is probably a reference to Miles Davis’ On Green Dolphin Street; Isobel’s Table is winking at Charles Mingus’ Ysabel’s Table Dance and Chasm’s Orange is perhaps drawing on another Mingus tune Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk.. Tea and Jazz: Selected Abstracts of Kenneth Showell (1939-1997) at Miro Tea in Seattle is a celebration of senses and creativity!

The show opens September 3rd at Miro Tea, 5405 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle and runs through October 31st. Come enjoy a beautifully curated cup of tea and see Ken’s work, some of which has never been seen in public!

BIOGRAPHY

The son of a sheet metal worker, Kenneth Leroy Showell was born in 1939 in Huron, South Dakota and grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. After receiving his B.F.A. at the Kansas City Art Institute and an M.F.A. from Indiana University he moved to New York City in 1965, setting up a studio in SoHo. Ken’s abstract work with spray paint and folded canvas garnered significant attention. His distinctive approach earned inclusion in the 1967 and 1969 Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Painting at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Showell was also included in the Whitney’s 1971 Lyrical Abstraction exhibition, and many other important group shows and surveys of contemporary painting. His work is held by prominent museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Art.

From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, Showell was represented by the prestigious David Whitney Gallery which featured the work of painters such as Dan Christiansen, Mary Heilmann, Ronnie Landfield, Pat Lipsky, and David Reed. These artists, along with Showell, were eventually grouped under the heading Lyrical Abstraction, a term coined by the collector Larry Aldrich to describe those painters who were moving away from the "geometric, hard-edge, and minimal, toward more lyrical, sensuous, romantic abstractions in colors which are softer and more vibrant.”

In the 1980s Showell’s interest drifted to landscape and plein air painting. He began to explore computer generated and video imagery as part of his creative practice. He would bring a Hi-8 video camera to Central Park, focus it on scenes he found interesting, and record until the tape came to an end. Afterwards he would return to his studio and paint directly from the image captured on videotape. The process gave his paintings a quality of motion even though his subjects, such as a skyline or a tree, were inherently static.

MIRO TEA

Miro Tea, (5405 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle) began with the simple idea that people could enjoy fresh, artisan-quality teas in a vibrant, community-oriented tea shop. Founded in 2007, Miro Tea was welcomed into the Ballard neighborhood as a centerpiece for connecting the community with the world’s finest grades of tea. Through quality of service, knowledge and product Miro Tea strives to evoke the sense of warmth and renewal that is the most primary characteristic of a good tea. Come for a visit and connect over your next cup of tea.

KENNETH SHOWELL ARTWORKS

Kenneth Showell Artworks was established to manage the Kenneth Showell collection and to handle donations, sales, licensing, and merchandise

For more information:

Hannah Palin, kennethshowellartworks@gmail.com, (206) 321-8301