Award-winning visual artist Kim Carpenter brings literature, dreams and fantasy to life
With hundreds of creations to his credit, Milsons Point artist Kim Carpenter has set his imagination loose, channeling his storytelling talent through books, paintings, stage performances, ballet and puppetry.
Kim defines his art as ‘non-naturalistic…more about imagination and fantasy’.
“I am -and always have been -a storyteller,” he says. “My art currently focuses on characters and stories in atmospheric, stylised and often fantastical worlds.”
During his career, Kim has been part of over 100 productions and received several recognitions, including in 2013 when he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his outstanding service to performing arts.
Art has been Kim’s path all his life, his passion starting at an early age when he would transform any single object with a paintbrush and found every surface to be the perfect canvas.
“I do, in fact, remember that I was addicted to drawing,” he confesses with a giggle.
“From the age of three or four, if I saw a crayon or my mother’s lipstick, it would become a drawing implement, and I would draw all over the walls of the house, which wasn’t appreciated,” he says, adding, “they were my canvases”.
His mother, who had a background in theatre, always encouraged him to follow his passion. He become a trainee painter in his teens and then studied production at the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
Kim dedicates his life to creating. From painting to performances, his career has been built on the balance of both worlds, which he has made available to audiences both in exhibitions and on stage.
A Midsummer’s Night Dream -The Lovers
For 30 years, up until 2020, Kim was the artistic director and founder of the Theatre of Image, a company he created to give young people and family audiences the same production value and quality as theatre made for adults. It’s a goal he says they achieved by generating great connections and involving the best artists.
His next exhibition, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Maunsell Wickes Gallery in Paddington will be open from 6 to 21 April.
In this new work, Kim has created a series of 30 ‘magical watercolour paintings that reflect The Dream’s poetry and universal themes of love, power and enchantment,’ with images that not only aim to take attendees to another realm, but stimulate their imaginations.
“Art is something that transcends the ordinary, it touches you, it moves you to tears and laughter, and it gives you an indelible memory,” says Kim.
He will also present Incredibilia in May, an immersive theatre piece for family audiences that combines visual arts, live music and 101 extraordinary objects at the State Library of NSW.
His ‘fantastical and joyful’ art is the expression of his inner child, which keeps his imagination constantly active, finding beauty everywhere he looks.
“I think it is absolutely essential to never lose the child in you. I’ve said this to them (students and colleagues), and some of them look at me as if I’m mad. And I thought, ‘They just don’t get it’. Some do, some don’t. But I think it’s absolutely essential that you have the child in you.”