Barry Kite
About Artist
Award winning Barry Kite’s exclusive use and alteration of found imagery is a natural extension of found poetry and the basis for what he considers his visual poems. His style of social and political parody via the “re-positioning” of art historical and contemporary media imagery has won him several art competition awards and placed his work in numerous private and corporate collections.
Under his studio name, Aberrant Art, Barry Kite’s work can be found on an extensive line of note cards and greeting cards. Several calendars and three books of his work have been published by Pomegranate Communications, Portland, Oregon.
Artist Quote
My work is based on found iconographic imagery from painting, photography and popular media initially via discarded books and magazines but of late: the internet. This imagery is deconstructed, then re-composed from different sources as parody with the important blending of and interpretive tension of word (via title) and image. The technique is based on using imagery as language to build context as individual words are combined to create ideas. Uncommon juxtapositions and themes are sought to provoke thought and discussion. The less common, the merrier. A little art literacy is helpful, as many implied narratives draw on historic reactions and interpretations of various employed artists and works from their own era. Prior history with a certain painting or photograph always colors one’s interpretation. Being aware of the fact that an artist went blind or crazy or bankrupt (you know who you are) during his productive period, or that a work was once critically excoriated always adds a certain flavor. My works are narratives. The challenge is to tell a story without words: using images, colors, composition. Only the words in the title are permitted to assist, or provoke, or mislead the viewer–drawing on that part of the brain dealing with abstraction. My training is in film, from which I have taken the primacy of the single shot. (Discarding the rest–which would make the film really short.)
Artist Bio
Barry Kite is a Chicago born artist with roots in California. He has pursued art since his time at Santa Rose Junior College where he studied drawing, painting, and computer graphics. He followed a path in the humanities studying photography and art history until he graduated UCLA’s Film program in 1971.
After receiving his B.F.A. in film from UCLA, Barry spent the next five years traveling overseas. Returning to the San Francisco Bay area, he wrote and performed his own style of surreal poetry in local coffee houses. Renewing his interest in collage, he combined photographic and hand-coloring techniques to create the foundation of his current work. After he made an artistic career in California, he finally settling with us in Central Florida.
Barry Kite is a poet, actor, art history fanatic, author and graphic collage artist extraordinaire specializing in the absurdity of our society, history and current events. We celebrate the thought-provoking and often side-splitting art of Barry Kite. Experience the process of collage art through the artist’s early work. Get lost in one of his new projects blending art history and humor. You may have seen his work on prints, greeting cards, or at the Parody Art Museum in Pattaya, Thailand!
Barry’s artwork is a staple in Daytona Beach culture. You can visit his art gallery in downtown Daytona Beach to see Mr. Kite’s extensive collection of collage art. He currently operates out of his studio located at 118 N. Beach Street in Daytona Beach.