Bio

"The Art of Destruction and Creation is a series of Sacred Acts that defy convention."

Kenn Edwards is an artist based in rural Northern Utah. Living between the desert and the mountains, he has always loved the landscape, and that same eye now draws him to the humanscape. Through photography, Kenn captures human expression as it breaks from contemporary society's conventions, using contrast to reveal life's fleeting moments.

He is a photographer, and one of his processes joins photography and acrylic painting. Kenn first paints the canvas or paper, then transfers his photograph onto the painted surface using a liquid medium. The result brings to life the colors and textures he experiences, beyond what the camera alone can capture.

Kenn's work was shown in the Bush/May Day 2025 solo exhibit at The Conjuring Tree in Salt Lake City. His piece Profanely Sacred was published in Dirt (2026), a publication of Erotic Art London.

Kenn holds an Associate of Arts degree from Snow College.

gray concrete wall inside building
gray concrete wall inside building
white and black abstract painting
white and black abstract painting

Artist Statement

I believe we live in a constant state of destruction and creation. From an early age, we are taught to be civilized and acceptable, and becoming who we truly are means tearing down that social programming and building something honest in its place. My work lives in that space between undoing and becoming, and to me, it is sacred.

I grew up between the desert and the mountains, and my love of landscape and cloudscape shaped how I see. Now I turn that eye to the humanscape. I photograph faces and bodies, playing with proportion and exposing the human form in ways that ask the voyeur to question what they have been taught to accept, or to look away from.

Each piece begins with the photograph. I then prepare a ground of acrylic on canvas or paper and transfer the image onto that painted surface with a liquid medium. The image and the paint merge, and the process becomes its own act of destruction and creation: the photograph gives up its clean edges, and the paint gives color and texture closer to how I experience the world.

I don't want viewers to come to a quick decision about what they see. I hope the work stays with them, and that they find themselves still thinking about it days later.

Exhibitions & Publications

2026 - Profanely Sacred, published in Dirt, Erotic Art London

2025 - Bush/May Day Solo Art Exhibit, The Conjuring Tree, Salt Lake City, UT