David Kindon and his artwork. Photo: David Kindon.
Can you guess the age of someone who describes themselves as an “emerging artist”? Chances are, you didn’t go with 80.
Yet at the ripe old age of four score years, Weston Creek resident David Kindon finds himself busier than ever – hosting three exhibitions in Canberra in two months.
“I don’t feel 80,” he laughs, although the fact he took a tumble at a recent Raiders’ game did remind him of his years.
“I was the first casualty of the night.”
Kindon’s paintings are of popular areas up and down NSW’s South Coast (in this case, Shoalhaven Heads). Photo: David Kindon.
Kindon’s show ‘Shores, Villages and Meadows’, at Yarralumla Gallery and Oaks Brasserie, has been extended until October 12.
At the same time, works from his ‘Blue Morocco’ series were displayed at the Saint Paul’s Spring Festival in Manuka in September. Next week, he’ll be at the top of the escalator in Cooleman Court, selling oil paintings from his ‘Little Canberra by the Sea’ collection from 6 to 10 October.
“With three exhibitions happening around the same time, I’ve never been so busy,” Kindon says.
Kindon only began painting in his 60s, while living in Merimbula. Inspired by the reflections and light along the beachfront’s boardwalk, he created his first series, ‘Boardwalk Reflections’.
Until then, art had played no part in his career.
He had joined the public service in Canberra in 1962, before serving five years in the Navy, including as captain of a patrol boat by age 23. He later worked in senior roles at the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, before running his own lobbying firm.
“I’d done nothing like art ever before. In fact, I would have run a mile from it,” he says.
“But the good thing about painting is that it’s a cheap way to travel. You actually see more of a place, because you’re looking at in such detail.”
‘Mystery Bay’. Photo: David Kindon.
Kindon mainly works in oils, producing coastal landscapes, villages and meadows in an impressionistic style. He has also recently created more “confronting” works, including a series on Gaza titled ‘Bearing Witness’.
“Someone described art as ‘seeing what must be seen’,” he says.
“Some of it’s painful to look at, but it has to be seen. They’re not the sort of thing people are going to roll up and buy. But I had to get it out of my system.”
Now living at the Araluen retirement village in Fisher, Kindon has about 60 paintings stacked in his room. He estimates he is producing about one new work a day in the lead-up to his Cooleman Court exhibition.
Work from David Kindon’s Gaza series. Photo: David Kindon.
Unlike gallery shows, the pop-up will be commission-free, with works priced up to $300. Each of his exhibitions also includes a free painting giveaway for visitors who register their details on the day.
For Kindon, the pace of exhibitions is demanding, but he has no plans to stop.
“The exhibitions are a lot of effort for an 80-year-old, especially after I took a tumble last week,” he says.
“These days, I don’t feel 80 – when you get old, I’ve found you often feel amazingly like you’ve always felt. But I’m thinking, is painting my final hurrah, or have I got another adventure in me? And if I do, what is it?”
Kindon’s exhibition of “Shores, Villages and Meadows” is open at the Yarralumla Gallery and Oaks Brasserie until 12 October. His pop-up art display ‘Little Canberra by the Sea’ is open in Cooleman Court from 6 to 10 October.
