Logan Kilgroe
Logan Kilgroe’s bedroom is full of sunlight, small plants on the two window sills, and a six-foot wide and three-foot tall hyper-realistic painting of a train crash in the sunset.
Leaning against the wall in the corner of his bedroom are four more hyperrealistic paintings, all original works by Kilgroe.
There’s a portrait of a college student asleep in her bed, next to an empty pizza box. There is a painting with a touch of eerieness, showcasing a realistic display of a college apartment.
Each painting has an incredible amount of detail. “A lot of the details are for me, nobody will really get them as I do,” said Kilgroe, “Over here in this corner of the painting, here is a recipe Sophie wrote for cookies, we taped it on the wall.”
“These are the types of paintings that make you keep looking at them for hours, I notice new details every time. They look like a blown-up photograph, it's hard to believe they were painted, without tracing anything,” said Chinle Reinshagen, a friend of Kilgroe’s.
Kilgroe may be a painter, but he currently studies plant sciences at the University of Arizona. He is a 21-year-old senior, originally from Berthoud Colorado.
“I am self-taught with painting and I have never taken a painting class,” said Kilgroe.
“I am not educated about art, but I like making art, I don't need to know everything there is about art and I don't think it stops me from being original,” said Kilgroe.
“I had never painted a hyperrealistic anything until the photo of my friend Erin Berridge on the bed. I started it the summer after freshman year college and finished it sophomore year,” said Kilgroe, “When I started painting that first one it was then for the first time I was like oh shit this is kinda good.”
Neurotic Break
Neurotic Break is a hyperrealistic painting series that Kilgroe began during his college career.
The three paintings in the Neurotic Break series:
“I wanted it to be a series of high detail low contrast raw paintings. I wanted them to be, kind of weird and unnerving. And I want them to also reflect growing up, in a way. I want them all to be really dramatic like a modern Renaissance feel,” said Kilgroe.
STREWN took 100 hours to paint, DRAINED took 60 hours, and UNFOCUSED took 150 hours to paint.
Kilgroe enjoys painting rooms and indoor spaces, showcasing how they can reflect one's emotional world.
“Neurotic break specifically is reflective of my mental health at the time. It was my inner headspace, reflected upon my living space,” said Kilgroe.
Each painting, so far, in the Neurotic Break series showcases the specificity of student housing. “I wanted it to feel claustrophobic, pent up and trapped. I wanted it to feel also relatable, to other 20-year-olds living in an apartment,” said Kilgroe.
Kilgroe’s paintings have a variety of extremely realistic details, “I like the details. Other artists do an illusion of details but I love the details and I don’t care that it takes me fucking forever. I wanted it to be interesting from afar and very close,” said Kilgroe.
Erin Berridge, a 21-year-old student and friend to Kilgroe is featured in two neurotic break paintings. “It's very flattering to me, it's very Renaissance and so detailed… I've had people recognize me from (Kilgroe’s) paintings,” said Berridge.
Kilgroe uses these paintings to represent different stages of his life. “In a way, all of my neurotic break paintings represent low points almost in my life. Things that maybe scare me. They are uneasy and weird,” said Kilgroe.
Kilgroe wants to keep making paintings for this series. He explains that maybe one day, he will evolve and paint a bright, colorful room, reflecting a more positive mental state.
“I do think they do reflect my mental health. I think that's how creativity works in a way. That's the way that I just paint, how a painting comes naturally to me,” said Kilgroe.
The Painting Process
Kilgroe describes his painting process as almost scientific in its approach. He uses acrylic paint, which can be difficult since it dries much quicker than oil paint.
Kilgroe pre-plans out all his palettes, mixes his paints, and puts them in small sealed containers. “With the acrylic, I have to work section by section and finish every section as I go because it dries so quickly,” said Kilgroe.
Kilgroe is very meticulous with his planning of each painting. He uses software tools on his iPad to help him color-match his reference photographs. “Mixing paint is kinda fun, it's like a game trying to color-match things,” said Kilgroe.
Take a look at some of Kilgroe’s planning palettes and sketches:
Commissions
So far, Kilgroe has sold three hyperrealistic paintings as commissions:
Although Kilgroe is grateful for the commission he receives, in an ideal world he would like to no longer have to do commissions.“A lot of art is created differently because it’s more about selling it, rather than creating it,” said Kilgroe.
The doll painting took 90 hours, the dog painting took 65 hours, and the train painting took 250 hours.
A goal of his is to be able to just be an artist, independent of personalized commissions. “I want people to know the art but not know me. I don't want to be a figure people recognize. I want people to buy my art for what it is,” said Kilgroe.
He hopes to continue the neurotic break series, and hopefully have them displayed in a gallery and be able to sell prints of the series.
“My biggest inspiration is myself. I don't want to get pigeon-holed into doing the same thing over and over again. I don't think I'm done with my art trajectory, I am still a baby at this and I think I’ll learn so much and get more inspiration as I go through life,” said Kilgroe.