KILMANY-JO LIVERSAGE
With street art being one of the most talked about genres today, some struggle to differentiate the Banksy’s from the bunch. No surprise then that super talented artist Kilmany-Jo Liversage aka Orda has taken her outstanding portfolio a step further with street art as the key influence. The result is a body of work that is edgy and energetic but also very hang able.
With a list of achievements between 1995 and now, including a Sasol New Signatures Award in 2000 and a UNESCO bursary in 2005 as well as an artists’ residency in Colombia, Kilmany-Jo has had the opportunity to explore and interpret the concept of street art in a unique way. She uses traditional aerosol sprays to create works that redefine identities as a mark of contemporary life. The result is a body of large, colourful paintings that is clearly rooted in the street but simultaneously boasts superior sophistication.
The street art idiosyncrasies of tagging names and dates are employed to construct the basis for these portraits. The street name Orda appears several times, underneath, between and over layers of pulsating colours. The layering and reworking of the canvas produces an effect reminiscent of urban geography.
I use these constructed urban facades as the canvas to my portraits. These characters are often the faces of people I know or faces from social media.
In doing so, portraits begin to exist at the intersection between urban and fine art where aspects of the visualcontemporary landscape are appropriated and re-imagined with traditional techniques of portraiture.“ Kilmany-Jo Liversage, April 2015.
SHUGA112
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 56 x 77 cm, 2022, (Unframed)
