Share this
Kevin Judge is an artist currently living in Dublin, Ireland. Since graduating from NCAD in 2018 with a degree in Fine Art, he has continued developing his practice and has had work exhibited in various galleries across Ireland.Judge makes layered paintings that record transient moments of everyday life, often reimagined in other-worldly scenarios and placed against the backdrop of dreamlike landscapes. These fantasy worlds in which Judge’s subjects exist leave room for surreal elements and detailed narratives, enhancing the viewer’s interaction with his work.
Hi Kevin! It’s a pleasure to sit down with you! First question that I always ask. How does a regular day look like for you in Dublin?
Hi Rubén, thanks for having me! I usually head straight to the beach when I wake up to walk my dog. Then I’ll grab a quick coffee before going to my studio in town. I like to have a few paintings on the go at the same time so I’ll work on one until I get tired of it or start to hate it then I’ll move onto the next one and keep repeating that process until I feel like going home.
I’m curious. Growing up, what kind of kid were you, what did you enjoy doing and how did you spend your time?
I feel like most of my childhood was spent outside in the garden playing football with my brothers or if they weren’t around, I was content just kicking the ball against the wall by myself for hours until I was called in for dinner. Then around 12 or so I accepted I was never going to play for Arsenal so started taking more of an interest in art and making music. I was always surrounded by art growing up from paintings by my grandparents on my dad’s side to beautiful furniture crafted by my mam’s side of the family so it’s cool to be able to continue this rich history of making.
So when did you start to paint, and when did you start taking being an artist seriously?
I started painting about halfway through art school. Up until that point all I did was draw and make some terrible screenprints but then I started going to more and more exhibitions and realised the only works that held my attention at all were paintings. Like you couldn’t pay me to stand in front of a sculpture or video piece for longer than the time it takes me to walk past it in a gallery, but with paintings I could stare at them all day to try and figure out how the artist made them. So yeah, I decided pretty quickly that’s the work I was going to start making and I took it seriously too. I’m always trying to improve my skills as painter. This mainly involves watching a lot of YouTube tutorials and trying to copy techniques from my favourite painters such as Issy Wood and Jamian Juliano-Villani.
Alright, let’s talk about your work now… The various everyday and sometimes surreal scenes in your work, what’s the story behind them? And what do you look for when picking a scene to document?
They usually start from me having an idea where I’m like “oh wouldn’t it be funny if I did this…” or “it’d be cool if I painted that…” because I feel like these are always my best ideas. I wouldn’t say they’re planned out a whole lot like I’m not doing too many sketches or anything beforehand. I just try to capture that initial feeling and make the paintings that I want to see. In terms of the subject matter in my most recent works, although the scenes are sort of surreal and fictional, they’re made up of real people, places and memories that mean a lot to me. There’s inside jokes and references that only the person in the painting will get and locations that are significant to me that I’m not going to explain. So although these paintings depict dreamlike worlds; they’re also deeply personal and are a way of documenting myself and the people I surround myself with.
Same thing with the various objects and motifs. What do you look for when you decide what to put on the canvas. For example, what makes a pair of sneakers or a Tayto bag worthy of gracing your canvas?
Well similarly to the last answer, it’s just about documenting my life. Like those two paintings for example are based off of photos I’ve taken. I try to use my own photos as reference material first before going through the thousands of images I’ve saved over the years from books and magazines and the internet. So the Salomons painting you mentioned is from a photo I took on a hike a few years ago and I chose that specific Banshee Bones Tayto bag because they were my favourite growing up. I need to have an emotional connection to these objects I include in my paintings as well as a strong feeling that they’llwork well on the canvas.
What are you hoping we, the viewers, take with us after viewing some of your paintings?
Hopefully you take the paintings with you after buying them. That would be ideal.
Alright Kevin, now to something completely different. In a parallel universe who would you be? and what would you be doing?
A hedge maze trimmer. Trimming hedge mazes.
What qualities do you find most important in the people you choose to spend time with?
Having a pulse, Generosity and Kindness. That’s the bare minimum anyway. I can work with that.
Anybody you look up to?
My parents.
What motivates you?
The desire to be better every day, not only in my work but as a person too.
How would you describe a perfect day?
Pretty much the same as my answer to the first question to be honest. Any day where I get a lot of painting done as well as the time to be outside with my dog is a perfect day to me. Maybe a nice glass of wine in the evening too but that’s it really.
Alright Kevin, I always ask these two questions at the end of an interview. The first is. What’s your favorite movie(s) and why?
I feel I’m always obliged to say Pretty Woman as my answer to this question, as I’ve a tattoo of Julia Roberts from that movie on my leg. But recently my girlfriend’s been showing me a lot of Swedish movies that I’ve loved such as ‘Fucking Åmål’ and ‘Lilya 4-ever’. I also just watched ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ which is a new favourite for sure.
The second is. What song(s) are you currently listening to the most right now?
I’ve had Candy by Mk.gee on repeat in the studio for months now. Scumbag by Role Model. That whole album really. And Clairo – Thank you.