Kevin Tharme

People often ask what Kevin’s paintings are "about". The honest answer is that they begin with things he tries not to ignore.
Kevin grew up in a small rural community where silence, observation and humour were survival skills. Years volunteering in mental health settings and a long career in IT, practised internationally, taught him that people are rarely as simple as their headlines, and that what goes unsaid is often of greater value than what is easily shared.
He works primarily in oil, alongside poetry and digital processes. The paintings and poems are different explorations rather than illustrations of one another. Together, they consider questions around responsibility, prejudice, care, resilience, identity, environmental change, human accountability, and the consequences of looking away. Although his practice is ethically motivated, he is sceptical of certainty. He is more interested in creating spaces where viewers can pause, search, reflect, recognise something of themselves, or simply disagree. He doesn’t paint solutions or manifestos; he paints questions.
Art can encourage us to stop, look a little longer, and think a little deeper. Kevin believes that kindness is a strength, that complexity deserves our attention, and that hope demands active participation.
If his work prompts discomfort, conversation, curiosity, or even a moment of recognition or insight, then it has done what he hoped it might.
kevintharme.art @kevintharme_art