BIOGRAPHY
Keven Furiya is an active member of the Seattle art community who has created art in the city for more than 25 years. While pursuing his own practice and exhibiting locally, Furiya has also moderated various life drawing sessions in the art community. His art education began at Seattle Central Community College, with Graphic Design and Illustration. This was combined with work as studio assistant to Seattle-based artist William Elston.

As a nisei (American-born Japanese), Furiya is inspired by the work and shares many of the subjects that intrigued artists Kamekichi Tokita (1897–1948) and Kenjiro Nomura (1896–1956). Both immigrated from Japan at the turn of the 20th century, becoming Seattle business partners in a sign-painting shop. This was located in the Nihonmachi, that local precinct currently known as the Chinatown International District. Prominent contributors to the Pacific Northwest art world from the early 1900's to the 1940s, each participated in the national Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). Both artists' plein air paintings of their neighborhoods and surroundings provide a visual snapshot of their era: a time which, for the city, proved pivotal. They continue to influence Furiya’s urban landscapes, his interiors and his portraits of fellow artists.

ARTIST STATEMENT
I work in oil paintings, watercolors and sketches. Whether these are made outside in the city and countryside or at home in my studio, all embody my fascination with the beauties found in the ordinary: the tapestry of textures, colors and geometries which surrounds us at every moment. Working from life allows me to absorb and extrapolate their essence, moving forward from those elements that first attract me. In streamlining some aspects and highlighting particular textures, I aim for works that encourage an observer to fill in more detail. If I can engage the viewer in such an internal dialogue, I feel my compositions achieve rewarding reciprocity.

Selected Exhibitions

2023 Group Show;', "BIMA Spotlight", Bainbridge Island Art Museum
2022 Solo Show, "Urban Textures", Vermillion Art Gallery & Bar
2018 Solo Show, Zeitgeist Kunst & Kaffee
2017 Solo Show, Dendroica Gallery, Seattle
2016 Group Show, Dendroica Gallery, Seattle
2012 Solo show, Vecta Photo Studio/Gallery, Georgetown, Seattle
2011 Juried group show, C Gallery, Seattle
2011 Group show, Vandenbrink Gallery, Tashiro Kaplan Building, Seattle
2010 Group show, Georgetown Art Center, Seattle
2009 Group show, Corridor Gallery, Seattle
2008 Solo show, Muree M Bronner Gallery, Neptune Art Center, Utica, New York
2006 Solo show, Zeitgeist Kunst & Kaffee, Seattle, WA
2005 Solo show, Sea-Sound Lounge, Belltown, Seattle, WA
2004 Solo show, All City Coffee, Seattle, WA
2003 Solo show, Zeitgeist Kunst & Kaffee, Seattle, WA
2002 Group show, Vital 5 Gallery, Seattle, WA.
2002 Invitational group show, Zeitgeist Kunst & Kaffee, Seattle, WA
2001 Group show, Vital 5 Gallery, Seattle, WA
2000 Group show, Vital 5 Gallery, Seattle, WA
2000 Invitational group show, Zeitgeist Kunst & Kaffee, Seattle, WA
2000 Solo show, Zeitgeist Kunst & Kaffee, Seattle, WA.
2000 Invitational group show for the Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle WA
1999 Solo show, Trapeze Gallery, Seattle, WA.
1999 Group show, Museum of History and Industry, Seattle, WA.
1999 Group show, Bumbershoot Arts Festival, Seattle, WA.
1999     Solo show, J.E.M. Gallery, Pioneer Square, Seattle, WA

Press
Review from The Stranger Weekly
June 2023 Issue of PublicDisplay.Art Magazine
Awards

2017 Recipient of smART Ventures Grant provided by ACES/Office of Art & Culture/Shunpike
2008     Co-recipient, King County 4culture Grant – in collaboration with Doug Vann, David Guilbault and Andrew Zadrozny

Other

2012 Moderator – Life Drawing Session at Gage Fine Art Academy, Seattle
2006-2009 Moderator – Life Drawing Session – Capitol Hill Life Drawing Group
1995-1998 Studio Assistant for William E. Elston
1994-1996     Studio Assistant/Monitor at Seattle Fine Art Academy

Education

1995-1998 William E. Elston – Oil painting studies, Seattle Washington
1995-1999 Seattle Academy of Fine Art (Gage), Seattle, Washington
1995-1996 Seattle Central Community College, Seattle, Washington Graphic Design & Illustration
1986                 Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana – Bachelor of Science