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Painter Aaron Caycedo-Kimura, a Stratford resident, creates dimensional portraits for which, he says, the key to "capturing the personality of the sitter, [is] all about observation and getting the gesture down." His work also includes compelling still lifes and landscapes, both of which show off a personal technique that Caycedo-Kimura describes as harnessing "thick drags of paint and occasional drips and spatters." And then, he says, getting to work melding them. "The 'messes' I create (and bring to order) are meditations of light, atmosphere and harmony," he explains.Born in California, Caycedo-Kimura came East for a Masters in Music at New York's Julliard School. "I grew up studying music. My first instrument was the piano, and then I studied percussion and tympani," he says. He graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. However, by the end of his Julliard stint, he came to a crossroads in his musical path. "During post-graduate soul searching, I realized that I had always been more visually oriented than aurally. I had always been a 'maker' too. I turned my attention to the visual, first to computer graphics and then to my true love, visual fine art," he says. Though he's taken some art classes, including at The Silvermine School in New Canaan, he has never been enrolled in a formal program.
Philosophically, Caycedo-Kimura believes that what he creates is inextricably linked to his own self-exploration. He says, "The only way artists can get personality into their work is to be true to themselves, true to the way they were created to be. You have to know who you are as a person, how you are wired: what you like, what you don't like, and why. It takes soul searching, and you have to be willing to take the risk, the risk of showing your true self in public."
Currently, the work of this talented risk taker, Aaron Caycedo-Kimura, can be seen at the New Haven Paint & Clay Club's 110th Annual Juried Art Exhibit, running until April 10 and at the upcoming Junior League of Eastern Fairfield County's Annual Art Show in Fairfield, April 1-3 and on his website.
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