Patrick Kramer was born in 1981 in Kaysville, Utah, the youngest child of German immigrants. A perfectionist by nature, representational art was an outlet well suited to his personality. He studied painting at Brigham Young University, receiving a BFA in 2008. Patrick is interested in art history and frequently incorporates famous works along with elements of destruction. He finds himself drawn to imagery with a certain tension or opposition, order versus chaos, variety versus unity, grace versus grit. Kramer came up with his series of deconstructed masterpieces while making a piece for a group show with the theme of perfectionism. Kramer has destroyed his fair share of artworks when he has been unsatisfied with the result.
By illustrating the destruction of masterful works of art as if it were done by the creators themselves, Kramer’s series communicates the inherit frustration of the creative process. Initially the series started with depictions of scraped imagery. Now the work has evolved into various methods of ruin such as burning, shattering, and cracking. Images in mid-termination takes paintings in their already delicate states and adds another layer of narrative and chaos for the viewer.
Momento Mori, or the idea that death looms over everything and nothing is permanent, is an underlying theme in Kramer’s paintings as well. From Frida Kahlo to Van Gogh, no historical piece of art is spared in Kramer’s decimation.
“I like the polarity and juxtaposition of these images, but it’s also grace and grit—things that are beautiful but have an edge to them,” Kramer says. “There can be beauty in ugliness.” His work has been featured in American Art Collector, Artists and Illustrators Magazine and Southwest Art. Patrick lives with his wife and two sons in Orem, Utah