kHhyal™ — that’s small k, big H, with a trademark sign at the end — is a Black Rock artist who you could describe in film terms: Character driven.
And it’s in Hollywood where her own artistic development took place.
As a young child of three or so, my imagination conjured up a series of characters that appeared in my realities. The earliest ones were quick circling lassos of hair that would wake me up in bed and follow me down the hall. Later, they became colorful combinations of transparent orbs with lively faces that popped up behind the living room furniture when no one else was around. Once I was in middle school, they only joined me in my sketchbook when I would draw them from memory and other unknown places.
When I was 20 years old, I moved to Los Angeles – a big, bold, bright city – that inspired me to create large, colorful canvases with a new cast of characters. In 1985, I received my first public art commission – a character painting in Rustoleum on a dumpster at a Beverly Hills gallery. I was commissioned to do another one at Newspace Gallery next to Paramount Studios, then a series of similar private client commissions through Ankrum Gallery on stainless steel trash cans.
The work has snowballed from there – and the character development continues. (It’s probably no surprise that my favorite artist is Dr. Seuss.)
See kHhyal™ and her characters at the Bridgeport Arts and Cultural Council at an opening reception Thursday, Feb. 23. The show will be on view until March 29, when a brown-bag lunch with the artist is planned at 12:30.
kHyal is one of the most creative artists I know. Her collages, photographic self-portraits, re-made fashions, web designs and her Weather sKwirl have left their trademark on CT. A very gifted and pretty in pink gal. Looking forward to this show! Thanks for the head’s up Lee.