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«Kenneth M. Freeman’s childhood dream of the Wild West is coming true: to gallop on trails for livestock; to go to Indian ceremonies in search of rugged, fascinating faces; to capture them for eternity in his world famous paintings ».

These are statements that describe Freeman’s artistic personality very well. This is the first exhibit in Europe dedicated to this artist, with 55 works that celebrate the legend of the West in the splendid Spazio San Paolo Converso in Milan. Tekne International, founded by Gilberto Algranti and directed by Cinzia Chiari, can take the credit for making these enthralling works known to Milanese audiences, Alan A. Arne, Tekne International’s agent in America, whose passion for art brought him to meet the artist in 2004 at The Festival of the West in Scottsdale in Arizona, where Freeman still lives with his companion Bonnie Adams, a photographer who often collaborates with him and whom he calls his Muse: «my paintings are getting better thanks to her», he says, smiling.
In his works, Freeman represents photographic excerpts of the life of the cowboy, of Indian children, of herds out to pasture and rodeos – all elements that, as if by magic, transport the viewer in that legendary place that makes us all, in a certain sense, children again and he often does this not only with the images, but also through his use of color. His reds are so close to reality that they stimulate sensations and memories. The extraordinary, truthful pictorial details make each painting an immersion in a fantastic world that enables us to savor the beauty of a culture that is as far from European western culture as it is extraordinarily authentic.

Kenneth admits that he had always dreamed of being a cowboy and, despite the use of photography, the pictorial rendering that verges on perfection and – it really must be said – at times improves on it, is not enough because «I believe that the artist must be physically in a place in order to experience it and paint it in the right way. Photographs help authenticity, but the atmosphere can only be captured by spending a little time in a place ». The artist, who is now sixty-nine, left Chicago in 1983, shortly after concluding a forty year-long career as an illustrator, and moved to Arizona to live in close contact with his passion. He nostalgically remembers how, as a child, he spent his Saturdays at the cinema in adoration of his idols like Gene Autry and Tom Mix: «It’s something I love. That I live.»
Some of his portraits are symbolic, like the painting Wedding Ceremony, with its intense, warm chromatic passages that exalt anatomies that recall the sacred ceremony of Wedding Cherokee, and the initiatory gesture of Kiowa Naming Ceremony where the entire family accompanies the not-yet-born child with propitiatory gestures. The clothing and atmosphere are intimately moving – almost as if they want to lead us into the pictorial fabric; recondite desire that the expressions on the faces, which are charged with sadness, mystery, reflection and pride, convey to us. The naturalness of the poses in Power of the Basket where a Navaho woman teaching the children is surprising, as is the basketwork of the strands of hemp to make baskets or the elderly woman whose skin bears the signs of time, intent on spinning wool like her ancestors did, like a sign of ideal continuity. The beautiful little girl who sells her clay cat, the Sioux warriors or the little Hopi ceremonial dancer are all images immortalized in the time that lends them charm and delight, like the innocent gesture of the embrace of the child with a sheep, a work that Freeman titles We All Need a Hug.
And that’s exactly how it is! These paintings are actually a sort of idyllic cradle and they lead us in our dreams and even if only for an instant, all we have to do is close our eyes to re-live the fairy-tale of the West and forget the worries and cares of everyday life.

credits:
KENNETH MILES FREEMAN
10755 E. Cactus Rd., Scottsdale
Arizona 85259
U.S.A.

TEKNE INTERNATIONAL
Spazio San Paolo Converso
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Milan
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