Creating With... Kim Mintz

 I had personally been following Kim Mintz on Instagram for several years now. I’d like to say that I had simply stumbled across one of her paintings in my feed but if I call recall correctly, I had delved five profiles deep on Instagram, searching for unique photography as I was suddenly ercome with a hunger for beautiful aesthetics. I shortly found myself on her page where I discovered her conceptual and impressionistic portraits, with eyes detailed to an extent of pure realism.

At the young age of 23, Kim Mintz is an impressive abstract artist well on her way to success. After receiving the Sol and Debra Majteles Visual Arts Award in her final year of high school, Kim is furthering her studies as an honours student in Fine Arts at Curtin University, and holds a strong artistic presence on social media. Recently Kim held an exhibition presenting her series Fragments to the public which discusses social media’s contribution in presenting one’s identity.  

I have been honoured with opportunity to discuss Kim’s interesting, thought provoking work, and the inspirations behind her ideas.

Fragments is a unique series consisting of abstract portraits, with beguiling distortions of the human portrait. Please discuss the meaning you are conveying in your series.

At first ‘Fragments’ was about the dichotomy between one’s online identity verses offline.

Upon starting my post-graduate Honours degree in Fine Art, where I was critically analysing

my paintings, I realized it was more about the proliferation of images in a post-internet

context, and specifically the image-based nature of social media platforms like Instagram.

I’m interested in how the human face has become a common vernacular for representing

identity online, and how these self-images are very much like self-portraits. In an age where

there are more images of ourselves than ever, I reference the multiplicity of images through

the multiple faces within my portraits. The fragments became symbolic for pixels, which

build up the faces in my portraits, reflecting a digitized self. In platforms like Instagram and

Snapchat, images are a language through which people communicate and talk to each other,

as well as reflecting the ideas about the self.

This proliferation of self-images is not inherently negative; I think it’s interesting that our identities are becoming increasingly digitized. It’s basically a commentary on what is happening around me, including the nature of my own social media activity.

How did you come to create the series? Is there a particular experience or thought that had

inspired you? 

I used to just take photos of my friends to paint with my iPhone, and I remember one time I

tried taking a photo with the panoramic setting. You know when you’re taking a panoramic

photo and you adjust your hand slightly and the image becomes super weird and distorted? I

tried taking an image of my friend on that setting, moving my hand up and down to distort it,

and the images came out extremely pixelated with multiple eyes and noses. That became my

continual methodological process when creating my portraits, as I thought it went hand in

hand with my concept of the proliferated networked image. Then when I started thinking of

social media images as self-portraits, I was increasingly interested in representing something as prolific and contextually significant as social media through my practice.

Please tell us about how you came to start creating art. Were you always aware that you

wanted to be an artist? 

I have always been interested in art, and took classes from a very young age. I originally

started a degree in nutrition, as I was worried about establishing a career as an artist, but

when I spent all my study time making art I realized I was definitely in the wrong course.

Has oil on canvas always been your preferred medium? Were there any attempts with other

forms? 

I originally started off just sketching with pencil on paper. I really got into oil paints in high

school and I fell in love with the medium, I don’t think I’ll switch to anything else.

Which artists do you look up to and inspire you?

Some painters I admire are Jenny Saville, Ben Quilty and Loribelle Spirovski because of their

distortion in their portraits. I also look up to Petra Cortright and Ken Okiishi for their digital

artwork as I think we share some of the same ideas about the internet and social media.

I notice that in your work the colours used are reoccurring - usually pink tones, red and

blues. Is there a particular reason these colours resonate with you and your work the most?

I like using a variety of colours for the skin, also greens, purples and oranges. Lately I’ve also

been using blue for the background to reference the blue light that’s emitted from screens.

What are your goals for your work?

I guess getting more solo exhibitions would be my goal for next year, if we’re talking long term it would be to quit my shitty job and be self-sufficient from my art.

You have had two recent exhibitions - an opening exhibition at the Ellis House

Community Art Centre, as well as some displays I believe at the Moon Café. This is extremely impressive for someone so young. Is there anything you wish to say to other aspiring artists? 

I always feel like there are young artists who have achieved so much more than I have, it’s

hard to focus on your own journey sometimes. I guess I would say to push through all the

existential crises and keep persisting, sometimes you won’t get in to the gallery you wanted

or win the art prize you wanted, but if you love it enough you’ll keep going and gain success

in other opportunities.

For more information about her work you can reach Kim by Instagram (@kmint_art) or email (kimmintz2@gmail.com)