Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach Kidwell.
Hi Zach, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’m a third-generation artist based in Dallas, but I took the long way around to get here.
I grew up in and around studios—my grandfather was a prolific artist who’s work hung in the Met and collections all over the world, and my dad is an assemblage sculptor with work in the Smithsonian and high end retail stores across the country. As a kid I spent afternoons in their shops, watching them build. I didn’t go to art school, I learned by being in that environment with them and experimenting on my own.
Instead of jumping straight into art, I spent 13 years in business development and experiential marketing. By day I was in meetings and at night I’d come home, put the kids to bed, hang with my wife, then head to the garage and paint until late.
When COVID hit, my wife and I finally decided it was time to bet on the thing that had been tugging at me for years. I left my corporate job and made a deal with myself: show up to the studio every day, treat it like a real job, and keep pushing the work forward. In those first couple of years I painted hundreds of pieces, constantly painting over old work to keep learning and refine my voice.
Getting into my first show was a turning point. Standing in front of those big white walls filled with my work and seeing people genuinely connect with it was the moment I realized, “Okay, this isn’t just a midlife crisis, I’m actually doing this.”
Today I make my living as an abstract painter. My work has shown in fairs across the country, collectors seek it out, and I get to work from my home studio and be present with my wife and kids in a way I couldn’t in my corporate life. The risk is still very real – every show, every month, every supply order—but the tradeoff is worth it. I get to build something from scratch in front of my kids and create paintings that carry real emotion for the people who live with them.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Well it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road.
When I left a 13-year corporate career to paint full-time, I basically hit reset on my life. I went from a steady paycheck to “you eat what you kill,” with no gallery representation, no big exhibition history, and three kids at home. Those first years were a mix of long nights in the garage, saying yes to the wrong opportunities, learning how fast booth fees and shipping can wipe you out, and figuring out how to price and protect my work like a real business instead of a hobby.
On top of the normal art-world challenges—rejections, slow months, wondering if anyone will actually buy what you’re putting your whole heart into, we got hit with a major family scare. During my wife’s third pregnancy, we found out she had critical aortic stenosis. There were real conversations about her survival and our baby’s survival, all while I was trying to keep momentum in the studio and stay present for our other kids. She’s healthy now, and so is our son, but that season was heavy and it changed the way I look at everything.
All of that has forced me to get clear about my goals more disciplined about showing up even when things feel uncertain. The road hasn’t been smooth, but it’s given the work teeth and depth and it keeps me grateful for every single win.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an abstract painter based in Dallas, and most of what I make are large, expressive canvases that feel like movement and sound—layers of rhythm, color, and repetition pushed all the way to the edges. I’m less interested in painting “things” and more interested in painting how things feel or how we think of things. the noise of life, the tension, the bursts of joy in the middle of it.
I’m a third-generation artist, so I grew up in my dad’s and grandfather’s studios. That background shows up in the way I build surfaces, lots of layered marks, scraped passages, and dense color fields that have a kind of physical energy to them. People know me for emotionally charged work tied to real moments: my wife’s high-risk pregnancy and open-heart surgery (Evolving Rhythms), and more recently my color-driven series that dig into the history and psychology of pigments.
I work a lot with collectors and designers who want pieces that carry a story, not just something that matches a rug. I do custom commissions, scaled mockups in clients’ spaces, and I treat the whole process like a collaboration.
What sets me apart is the mix of legacy, discipline, and honesty. Legacy, because this is literally the family trade. Discipline, because I treat painting like a job and show up whether I feel inspired or not. And honesty, because I only put work out that actually feels lived-in. if I don’t feel it, it doesn’t leave the studio
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I think that covers it for now.
Pricing:
- Commission rate is $1.25 per square inch.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.zachkidwellart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zachkidwellart?igsh=ZGs0bm9hYnd5Y2Zj&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/19XzpWRzte/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Other: http://saatchiart.com/zachkidwellart
