Ken Rasmussen - Artist - Paintings

Ken Rasmussen grew up in Broome, Marble Bar and other Western Australian country towns. He was educated at Scotch College, and attended the University of Western Australia (B.A Literature and one year at Law School.) He subsequently completed a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts at West Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University), majoring in painting. Since graduation Ken has painted professionally, gaining a reputation for realist drawing, watercolour and oil painting skills. More recently Ken has evolved as a modern realist impressionist painter.

Artist Statement

Ken Rasmussen is passionate about how places create meaning in people's lives. He draws from his own travels with family to create oil paintings of places that are close to his heart. In Ken's art you'll find holiday stories, the drama of the big city as well as the sacred peaceful places we retreat to. Ken's oil paintings are a window to the memories and experiences that light up our lives and connect us to the people we love most.

Painting Texture

Ken's painting style involves multiple stages:

• each painting is sketched with a 2mm 6B mechanical pencil, on paper
• the linen (or canvas) is prepared on its stretcher with a layer of moulding paste
• the sketch is transferred onto the prepared linen/canvas
• the design is developed by partially etching it into the moulding
• the paint is applied and the painting is developed.

The surface texture effect is unobtrusive. When different incident light hits the surface, the effect can be quite dramatic. Clients who have their paintings hanging in areas that receive morning or late afternoon light report a significant change in the mood of the painting.

Tim Winton Opening Night

Tim Winton opened Ken's "Summer Breezes" exhibition early in his career - for a period of time, Tim sub-leased studio space from Ken in West Perth. Here are some extracts from his speech in reference to Ken and his work. “... Impervious to trends, a resister of cliches, he tends to his own personal vision with a resolute intensity that marks him out as stubbornly individual... This is a man who cares about places. Here is an artist who believes in craft. This is an artist who gives respect to the viewer. There's no posturing here, no hostile puzzles, no cynical narcissism. What I particularly love about these paintings is their meditative calm. Looking at a dragonfly on a lily pad, a light-softened bend of the Margaret River, fiery rows of grapevines or the dreamy haze of mudflats, you have the sense of being a lone observer. It's like the sacred sense you have of being the first awake or the last asleep. You prowl alone through the house in the quiet and stand on the veranda and see the strange freshness of the world. Familiar, but freshly made, as if for you. There is a kind of longing in the works ... that comes from this calm solitude, this feeling of sweet loneliness. The Germans have a word for it: sehnsucht. A mixture of longing, melancholy, awe, and joy. A kind of sacred feeling... Go back to the dragon fly on the lilypad and all the patient renderings of light... The dawn light on Rottnest ochre walls. These are things you want to see again, images that would do honour to your home and workplace. Why? Because, with time and craft and sheer doggedness, someone has rendered to things their due esteem..."

Exhibitions and Prizes

• 2021 Invited artist: Fine Art @ Hale , Yallingup Galleries, Boranup Gallery.
• 2021 Invited artist: Finishing Touch Gallery, Gallows Gallery
• 2020 Commisions: Private Collectors
• 2020 Invited artist, Yallingup Galleries, Boranup Gallery, Finishing Touch Gallery, Gallows Gallery
• 2019 Town of Claremont Art Awards (Winner - People's Choice).
• 2019 The Grove, Peppermint Grove. Solo exhibition
• 2019 Invited artist Yallingup Gallery, Finishing Touch Gallery, Boranup Gallery, Applecross Art Gallery.
• 2019 Invited artist, Perth College 34th Annual Art Exhibition, St Brigid's Biennial Art Exhibition
• 2019 Commissions: Aquinas College, Private Collectors
• 2018 Invited artist, Yallingup Galleries Summer Exhibition, Yallingup.
• 2018 Invited artist Boranup Gallery, Yallingup Gallery, Finishing Touch, Accent Gallery
• 2017 Invited artist, Boranup Gallery, Yallingup Gallery, Gallery 360, Finishing Touch, Accent Gallery
• 2016 Invited artist, Yallingup Galleries Summer Exhibition, Yallingup.
• 2016 Invited artist, Boranup Gallery, Yallingup Gallery, Gallery 360, Finishing Touch.
• 2015 Invited artist, Yallingup Galleries Summer Exhibition, Yallingup.
• 2014 Group Online Exhibition, Best of Fine Art Collection, Scoop Magazine.
• 2013 Studio Exhibitions, Invited artist, Yallingup Galleries Summer Exhibition
• 2012 Studio Exhibitions, invited artist Finishing Touch Gallery
• 2011 Solo Exhibition, Elements Art Gallery, Dalkeith.
• 2010 Studio Exhibitions, Invited artist, Margaret River Gallery
• 2009 Studio Exhibitions, Invited artist, Yallingup Galleries Summer Exhibition, Yallingup.
• 2008 Studio Exhibitions, Invited artist, Yallingup Galleries Summer Exhibition, Yallingup.
• 2007 Studio Exhibitions, Featured artist Finishing Touch Gallery.
• 2006 Studio Exhibitions, Solo ExhibitionElements Art Gallery, Dalkeith.
• 2005 Studio Exhibitions, Group exhibition Gallery 360.
• 2004 Studio Exhibitions, Solo ExhibitionElements Art Gallery, Dalkeith.
• 2003 Studio Exhibitions, Featured artist Finishing Touch Gallery
• 2002 Studio Exhibitions, Featured artist Finishing Touch Gallery
• 2001 Travel, eight months painting in Europe, mostly France and Italy.
• 2000 Solo exhibition, McKenzie Gallery, Claremont.
• 1999 Solo exhibition, McKenzie Gallery, Claremont.
• 1999 Solo exhibition, Framed Gallery, Darwin.
• 1996 Solo exhibition, “Rare Pearls – invited artist Pearlfishers’ Gallery, Shinju Matsuri Festival Broome.
• 1996 Solo exhibition “Summer Breezes”, Katsui Studio, Claremont.
• 1996 Group exhibition, Tatersalls invitation Landscape Painting Award, Brisbane.
• 1995 Solo exhibition – “North and South”, A Shed Fremantle.
• 1994 Solo exhibition – by invitation, A Shed Fremantle.
• 1994 Invited artist, illustrations for book “Songs of the Possum” and auction of art works, Burswood.
• 1994 Invited artist, group exhibition, Shinju Matsuri Pearl Festival, Broome.
• 1993 Winner, Woolstores Acquisitive Art Award for oil painting, Fremantle.
• 1993 Runner up, Woolstores Acquisitive Art Award for works on paper, Fremantle.
• 1993 Invited artist, group exhibitions, “Equus – the Horse in Art” – Perth Equestrian Centre.
• 1992-93 Numerous group exhibitions.
• 1991 Solo exhibition by invitation, Shinju Matsuri Pearl Festival guest artist, Broome.
• 1990 “Pearling Luggers and Bush Camps” solo exhibition, artists’ studio, West Perth.
• 1990 Group exhibition, Bougainvillea Festival, Darwin.
• 1989 One man show, artist’s studios, West Perth.
• 1988 Solo travelling exhibition by invitation, Bicentennial Goldfields Trek, Perth to Kalgoorlie.
• 1987 Solo exhibition, Stockman’s Hall of Fame, W.A Branch, Claremont.
• 1987 Solo exhibition, Ric’s Gallery, Dalkeith.
• 1987 Solo exhibition, Old Cheese Factory Gallery, Balingup.
• 1986 Solo exhibition, Old Cheese Factory Gallery, Balingup.