Meet Kevin Oehler | Visual artist and designer of immersive natural and cultural history exhibits

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kevin Oehler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kevin, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?

I am chiefly inspired by the following:

• The breadth and depth of art history, particularly Surrealism, abstraction, and installation art

• Natural history and the evolution of organisms and environmental systems as propagated through the transfer of
genetic material

• Science fiction and futurology, particularly the observation that Homo Sapiens may well be the only species that
evolved to engineer its own extinction

• The notion that art making can be self restorative

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
For me, the circuitous journey of art making has required me to garner financial support from loosely related professions. In my case, I spent 20 years as a production designer in film in Chicago and Los Angeles, and 18 years designing natural and cultural history exhibits for museums and nature centers throughout the country. I found a common thread in the continuous practice of drawing, a passion I have nurtured since early grade school. Nothing is easy in any of these professions. But the practice of adapting core ideas to the creation of high quality and unique audience experiences has always felt exciting and open ended. Among the most important lessons I’ve learned are to always start at the beginning, allow broad strokes to precede details, don’t get too stuck on preliminary ideas, listen to others, and be open to and nurture accidents and adjacencies that can occur along the way. I guess I’d like the world to know that in my fine art practice, I strive to foster, through detail and complexity, a degree of astonishment and surprise in an audience. 

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Or, lets say I’m visiting my friend in Amsterdam (which I have done many times), the late Dutch painter, Eric Knoote. We begin the day on bicycle, meeting for espressos near his studio in Ooster Park. We then bike to the studio where we each have work spaces. Four hours of painting and drawing are punctuated by mutual critique and oblique jokes. Back on our bikes, we head to the newly renovated Rijks Museum and the collection from Boijmans Van Beuningen. We meet his wife, Aleid near Vondel Park, stash our bikes, then head out for an early dinner at Dayacos in Nieumarkt. After dinner we jump on the tram, back to Ooster Park for a nightcap of Westmalle with our friends Rob and Rina Van Der Schoor. Bidding farewell, we promise to meet back up the following morning for another day in the studio. How I miss those days

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Two artist friends, both unfortunately deceased: Dutch painter Eric Knoote, and Spanish artist Juan Munoz, plus the inimitable Denver artists, Gary Emrich and Terry Maker.

Website: kevinoehler.com