Damien Kurth

Damien Kurth (b.1972 Stratford, UK) is a contemporary painter based in the Waikato. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Arts from Otago Polytechnic. 

Working predominantly in oils, Kurth’s meticulously rendered ‘trompe l’oeil’ paintings depict groupings of everyday objects, providing an opportunity for the artist to focus on the physical act of painting whilst interrogating philosophical concepts of perception and semiotics.
 
A bevel cut crystal glass, an old jar, a patterned tin; these objects are often overlooked and considered mundane. However, sitting central in Kurth’s compositions and devoid of situational context, the familiarity of these everyday objects dissipates, and they gain an element of mystery and intrigue.

Kurth’s commonplace objects possess the ‘seemliness of the unfamiliar’ or ‘Jamais vu’ a term used to describe the experience of being unfamiliar with something that is very familiar. 
 
The artist uses a traditional ground gesso, building the painting’s surface slowly; each stroke of oil working with the other to create a harmonic whole. Delicately painted sheets of paper and masking tape subtly divide the picture plane, creating a sense of depth, while fluorescent pink post-it notes punctuate his compositions; drawing the viewer’s eye across the canvas, achieving an overall sense of balance and harmony.

Kurth’s work is held in numerous collections in NZ Aotearoa and worldwide. He is the winner of the Otago Polytechnic Painting Award, the Derivan Painting Award, the Cleveland Art Awards (Highly Commended) and a finalist in the Adam Portraiture Award.

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