New SAC exhibit features spray foam insulation

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This article was published 22/01/2024 (335 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Steinbach Arts Council new exhibit opening Jan. 19 sees a mixed media artist using spray foam insulation in his paintings.

“I’m really honoured to work with Eugene (Kabrun) and do an exhibit with him as he’s exhibited a lot here at the Steinbach Arts Council and he’s also a part of our buy or lease program as well. What I’ve noticed from his pieces is that he takes a lot of creativity and a lot of inspiration from different forms of medium and art and uses it in his pieces which is really, really amazing. So it’s not just oil or acrylic or watercolour he uses a bunch of different things in his paintings, which I think is really interesting and it’s something I haven’t seen in a lot of artwork,” said Camila Funes-Giesbrecht, assistant arts instructor coordinator for SAC.

Ukrainian artist Evgeniy (Eugene) Kabrun uses spray foam insulation on canvas to create texture before applying paint to make his art. The artist’s work is largely landscapes he finds as a trucker as well as a dabbling of portraits and still life. He travels throughout Canada and the United States taking photos of things he finds beautiful or interesting and then when he arrives at his home in Lundar he works in his basement creating his artwork.

“Sometimes I take several pictures and make one (picture). It gives me different ideas. I drive and I see something beautiful. Sometimes I stop going out from the truck and take different pictures and come home and make some still life or make other (paintings). When I drive I think a lot,” he said.

Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, Kabrun moved to Israel with his family when he was 18 due to tensions between Ukraine and Russia. In 2007, Kabrun moved his family to Manitoba from Israel to escape the political climate and terrorism that made living in Israel dangerous. Now at 51, Kabrun is opening his second exhibit at SAC’s Hall Gallery.

“It’s structure 3D mixed media,” he said. “Only I use, no other artists use. It’s very nice material. It’s very strong material…Very strong material. I like working with it. It gives structure to my painting. It gives 3D to my painting. It’s very nice to work with it.”

Kabrun has been studying art since he was a child with private instructors in Ukraine and in Israel. In the last five years, he’s been taught by a Russian teacher from Moscow. He got the idea to use spray foam in his art by making a 3D painting for the background outside his fish tank.

“All world is 3D, we live in a 3D world and it’s what I try to do. Normal art is 2D and it’s different because we live in a 3D world. I try to make art like relief like the 3D world.”

The World in Structure will run in the Hall Gallery until Feb. 23.