Abstract botanical and landscapes shaped by nature and intention
I am Kevin Venhaus, an Iowa-based American artist whose work explores the collaboration between natural processes and artistic intention. After earning a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and a career in design and advertising , I returned to painting to develop a practice in which discovery is as important as decision.
Working primarily with acrylic paint and ink on absorbent canvas and paper, I draw inspiration from the temporary traces plants leave on concrete after rain—stains, impressions, fragments, and ghostlike forms shaped by water and time. Plants, pigment, gravity, and the surface itself become active participants in the development of each painting.
After rainfall, leaves and other natural materials leave temporary stains, silhouettes and flowing marks on concrete. These fleeting impressions inspired my process of using water, pigment and actual plant materials to create abstract botanical forms.
Rather than imposing complete control, I establish conditions that allow the work to evolve through both deliberate choices and unexpected outcomes. Some compositions remain quiet and spacious, while others become dense and tangled, reflecting nature’s movement between order, growth, decay, and renewal.
The resulting paintings exist between abstraction and representation, suggesting botanical forms, landscapes, and ecological patterns without describing a specific place. I hope they invite viewers to slow down and experience the quiet complexity of a world shaped by both intention and the unexpected.
contact information
K. a. venhaus
515-777-8031
kcvenhaus@icloud.com