Kevin Wendall (FA-Q)

About

Kevin Wendall (1956–2011), also known as FA-Q, was an American artist celebrated for his emotionally charged, finger-painted portraits that merged abstraction and figuration. Born and raised in Ohio, where he attended the Cooper School of Art as well as Baldwin Wallace College. Wendall moved to New York City in the 1980s, where he became an integral member of the Rivington School, an East Village collective known for its irreverent and raw approach to art-making.

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Wendall's work is defined by a visceral immediacy. Through intense circular gestures and spontaneous color mixing, he created vivid, distorted faces that communicated directly from the psyche. Often painted entirely with his hands, these works served as a direct emotional release, bypassing conventional tools and methods. His visual language drew from underground comics, Rat Fink bubblegum cards, Mad Magazine, and African masks, while also reflecting the influence of artists such as Philip Guston and the Dutch COBRA movement.

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Wendall received a scholarship to study in Finland and later held an artist residency in Düsseldorf, Germany. These formative experiences expanded his artistic worldview and informed his unique aesthetic. A pivotal collaboration with Italian avant-garde artist Enrico Baj further enriched his creative development and deepened his connection to European postwar art movements.

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His work has been acquired by major institutions and private collections around the world. Notable holdings include the Enrico Baj Collection, the Santa Barbara Museum, the Nagoya College of Art, the University of Helsinki, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Artist Book Collection, the Giancarlo Politti Collection, and the Karel Appel Collection.