My Favorite People | Kirk Mangus

Betty and Howard Taylor Main Gallery

The late Kirk Mangus loved to draw and paint people he knew from memory—including portraits of his friends and family. These drawings and watercolors are related to the portraits in the Kings & Queens mural located outside Summit Artspace, completed by Mangus in 2006 and now restored by his widow, Eva Kwong.

My paintings and drawings are based on human and animal figures. I start by drawing from life everyone and everything that I encounter. When I go into the studio, I paint and draw from memory, observations and interpretations. This process transforms the images into an abstract realm, a dream world where memory and legend take on a different perspective.  

Anything is possible.  

Recently I have added color to my usual black and white palette. Color enhances the surreal. Places where I have lived and people, I have met are jumbled into the scenes I depict. These watercolors are my personal history rendered into myths or an imaginary world. 

 –Kirk Mangus, 2012 

Read the Akron Beacon Journal’s Review of Love Between the Atoms and My Favorite People Here!

Special thanks to Bradley Hart, Summit Artspace resident artist, for photography of virtual exhibitions!

If you would like to purchase any art, please visit a staff member or volunteer at the front desk, or email natalie@summitartspace.org.