Hi, I’m Kevin Booth (he/him/his), a visual artist and writer – creative fields I have come to via the theatre.
As a writer, I create contemporary and LGBT-themed fiction, often about Barcelona and its history, such as my first novel, Celia’s Room (2011). I have also written about the city’s art and architecture in the BCN Free Art guides (2016). Writing as K. Eastkott I created “Seeking the Jewel Fish” (2013–2015), an environmentally focussed ocean fantasy series that explored non-Eurocentric worlds. I began as a writer penning English learning, theatre-in-education plays, such as the hugely successful 100 Meters (1993). This play tells the story of the athlete Wilma Rudolph, a girl who overcame crippling disability and racism to become the fastest woman in the world. It has now been commercially published along with a teaching pack for students at CEFR language levels A2–C1.
My first art show, Blur Queer Lines, at the gallery Estudio Mahi Toi in Barcelona, was held in June 2022. You can view the works here.
This was an initial early milestone in my artistic trajectory. Having been obsessed with and writing about visual art for years in my novels and non-fiction, I finally took a plunge into the practical, reviving a passion from my adolescence. The decision to study oil painting at Escola Massana in Barcelona (2018) was key to rekindling this vocation.
My visual art practice encompasses oils, inks and drawing. In exploring what it is to be male, gay and sexual, my alter artistic persona, Domitorus, lets me tackle more explicit, erotic and fetish themes.
I was born and grew up in an artistic family in Tāmaki Makaurau-Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, heading overseas when I was 19. I’ve also lived in Sydney, Melbourne, Madrid and London, though since 1988, Barcelona is my home. I studied a BA (Hons) Literature at the Open University (UK, 2005) and a postgraduate BA (Hons) in Comparative Literature at Auckland University (2008), both awarded First Class Honours. I combine art and writing with work as a translator and editor.
Artist statement
The two main strands of my working exploration are oils and coloured inks, using other media, including gold leaf, as needed. Light and saturated colour are both fundamental.
I remain fascinated by male figurative, and love how the rich pigments of oils let me capture the colour and joy of male physicality and sexuality. Currently I’m exploring less naturalistic chromatic balancing in a movement towards abstraction.
When working with inks, I let the colours mix wet in an anarchic bleeding and fusing of pigment, while exploring the differing textures of various grounds, such as paper, gesso and acrylic.
Solo shows (most recent first)
Ars Felatio. Boxer Café and Bar, Barcelona, 6–30 April 2023. Works in ink and charcoal from 2022–2023.
Blur Queer Lines. Estudio Mahi Toi, Barcelona, 16 June – 3 July 2022. This first show included oils and mixed media works from 2020–2022. See the works here.
Group shows
Hostalric d’art. Exhibited at this art fair were oil and mixed media 2D works on the male figurative, and boxes decorated in coloured inks and gold leaf. Hostalric (Catalonia), June 2022.
CLAW22 Art Show, Cleveland (USA), April 2022. R Submits (coloured inks on paper, 16 x 27 cm) and In His Happy Place (coloured inks on paper, 27 x 16 cm) auctioned.
CLAW21 Art Show, Los Angeles (USA), November 2021. Access Denied (oil on canvas, 16 x 27 cm) and Chris Bound (coloured inks and water-soluble pencil on paper, 30 x 40 cm) auctioned.
Pride Edition Virtual Show, CU46 Gallery, Barcelona, July 2020. Iván Reclining, reproduction of 30 x 60 cm oil on canvas.