Kyle Banner is an artist and musician residing in Asheville, North Carolina – a hub of musical and artistic creativity amidst the Appalachian Mountains. His paintings evoke jazz, blues and old-time musical traditions.
Kyle’s ability to capture these unique figures has its roots in an upbringing steeped in the music and history of the American South. His great grandfather, Wilcher Banner, was shot in the head at the battle of Gettysburg, and his other great grandfather Walter Smith, played banjo back in the 1880s.
Kyle grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, playing fiddle, guitar, banjo and harmonica with his family, dancing around the den while his father strummed a 1950s Gibson and blew mountain music on a rack harmonica. With an encyclopaedic knowledge of music, Kyle hosted a popular early morning blues radio show in Atlanta. He went on to live and perform music in Los Angeles, San Francisco and later Asheville.
Kyle is self-educated in the arts, reading voraciously and visiting galleries around the globe. The artworks are on paper, wood or canvas and combine a variety of mediums, including acrylic paint, pen and ink, watercolour and the finest Italian espresso. They exhibit a range of influences and reflect the axiom, “everything is a study”.
“Many of Kyle’s pieces capture the dissonance of jazz in bright, sometimes jarring colours or the simplicity of a blues riff in an art brut style. Hands and instruments meld together. Colour sets the tone. However, it is the use of sparse, simple line and an assuredness in mark-making and application of paint which brings a deep resonance to these remarkable Debuffetesque images.”
- Lucinda Towler, Art Historian