Artist Focus: Damian Kinsella

Damian Kinsella was raised in the mountain town of Tehachapi, California, before moving to the Los Angeles area. His still life paintings often reflect his love of history and forgotten arts and crafts in a 19th-century trompe l’oeil style reminiscent of Richard La Barre Goodwin or William Harnett. He often creates the subjects he paints. Beaded items, carvings, scale models and dioramas are created, weathering and antiquing them to make them appear authentic. Even his backgrounds are created to reflect the proper mood and time. He’s named this process “honest forgery.”

Vanitas III, oil, 24 x 36 in.

Kinsella says that it was two early memories that had the most influence on his work. He remembers the fear he felt upon entering his great-grandfather’s dark workshop, a large ram skull hanging over the door. “It was full of mystery and artifacts, jars of arrowheads, parts of six-shooters, family history and photos going back to the Civil War,” the artist says. Kinsella also remembers being afraid of a nocturne painting of an abandoned mission in the moonlight. He credits these memories as the reason why, to this day, he depicts these scenes that mean so much to him.

The Great Western, oil on panel, 52 x 42 in.

The artist will have his work on view at the Art 2025 Tehachapi show on November 15 in Tehachapi. Learn more about the show at www.artstehachapi.org. —