My name is Kurt Caddy and I live on a 34 acre plot of land just north of Springfield, Missouri. My wife, Laura and I have been married for 35 years; we have 3 grown bio-kids and 5 adopted kids. This space provides shelter for my family and shelter from the craziness of life. This place provides inspiration and time to think. Art springs from a deeper place within my mind and heart and overflows in abstract paintings and sculptures.For me, art is an outward expression of a deeper and inward reality. My paintings and sculptures are punctuated with exaggerated textures and vibrant, rich colors, and metal leaf. I experiment with multiple substrates such as canvas, home-made papers, polystyrene, wood, concrete, and even barn tin. The substrate is the foundation I create upon. I use knives, screwdrivers, jar lids, torches, grinders, and even finger nail polish remover to create texture. I also build up layers of texture by adding mortar, sand, and even ashes to acrylic mediums. Texture adds depth and a sense of wear and tear through time to a piece. This concept is called wabi sabi by the Japanese. Then multiple layers of thinned paint are added to achieve a depth of color that paint directly from a tube can never achieve. This process takes time but the dramatic results are worth the wait. My paintings are infused with symbols and shapes which speak a metaphorical language all their own. As I am creating texture I am “breaking” the piece. Through this brokenness and the process of making, I hope to bring forth beauty from the brokenness. I am also a kintsugi artist. Kintsugi is the 15th Century Japanese art of mending tea bowls with gold. I incorporate the kintsugi elements and metaphor into a variety of art works. I believe that art can help portray the idea of a redeemed beauty and transformation is indeed possible. I call this the “art of transformation.”I have been influenced by artists such as Makoto Fujimura, Grace Boden, Mark Rothko, and Kandinsky. I am also heavily influenced by Japanese and Native American cultures. I have exhibited work in Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and New York.