Aquarelle sur papier, 2024
Shawn Kuruneru creates his own visual language composed of colourful, blocky geometric forms that oscillate between optical illusion and the material reality of acrylic absorbed into the weave of raw canvas. Using formal painting methods rooted in art history and autobiography, Kuruneru’s work is bold and playful, intimate and poetic.
Rhythm and movement are developed through repetition of gestures personal to Shawn Kuruneru’s hand. Loud and gentle coloured shapes float across the canvas, creating a multi-perspective experience inspired by tenth-century Chinese landscape paintings—rooted in his own Chinese heritage.
Kuruneru holds a BFA from Concordia University (Montréal). His work is in the collections of the Portland Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Canada Library Collection (Toronto), the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Thomas J. Watson Library (New York), the Alex Katz Foundation (New York), and CELINE (Paris). Kuruneru currently lives in Montréal.