(left to right)
Arthur & Anya Gordon, Owner Chef of the Irregardless Cafe,
artist, Kyle Highsmith and his wife Gerry Highsmith.

Kyle Highsmith's oil paintings are most noted for his courageous use of color. Highsmith, a prolific painter who generates an average 150 oil paintings a year, creates each painting with its own unique viewpoint, reminiscent of such Impressionist painters as Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin. Painting in the outdoors ("en plain air") set those artists apart from the academic painters of their time. And it is the "plein air" technique that Kyle Highsmith uses to create his canvases.

(left to right)
Arthur & Anya Gordon, Owner Chef of the Irregardless Cafe,
artist, Kyle Highsmith and his wife Gerry Highsmith.

His work, familiar to the Raleigh audience, is much loved for its vibrant and tropical color. Highsmith paints on location and frequently travels to picturesque local spots and sites like Paris and the South of France, the North Carolina coast and Key West. His oil paintings feature daily life in these visually stimulating locations, whose architecture is prominently featured in may of his paintings. This feature is a reminder of the artist's original academic training in architecture and his love of forms and light reflecting from the shapes we see in daylight.

Spectator Magazine says of his work, "Highsmith takes real life and gives it back to us intensified."

Highsmith, a long-time Raleigh artist, maintains a studio at Artspace in downtown Raleigh. His paintings are in the collections of untold numbers of private collectors, and in the collections of the North Carolina Museum of Art, Duke University Medial Center, Progress Energy and many other corporate headquarters throughout North Carolina, as well as numerous banks and college campuses around the state. His work has been honored with a great variety of awards and honors over the years.

In doing research, I came across a catalogue titled "Paris and Southern France 1988" with little pen and ink drawings the artists had available for sale at that time. The catalogue contains an artist's statement that I believe summarizes Kyle Highsmith's passion for his chosen vocation. "These works are made of oil paint and canvas - but beyond that, beyond the colors and the images, the most basic and constant element is the intense joy with which each was done." Kyle Highsmith

• "Traveling Show", Carteret Contemporary Gallery, Morehead, North Carolina 2004
• "Life's Not Fair", Cottage Chic, Pinehurst, North Carolina 2004

• City Art Gallery
  
• Tar Heel Gallery

• Artspace, Raleigh, North Carolina
• ArtSource, Raleigh, North Carolina
• Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, North Carolina
• Carteret Contemporary Art, Morehead, North Carolina
• City Art Gallery, Greenville, North Carolina
• Cottage Chic, Pinehurst, North Carolina
• Little Art Gallery, Raleigh, North Carolina
• New Elements Gallery, Wilmington, North Carolina

• North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina
• IBM, Cary, North Carolina
• GlaxoSmithKLINE Pharrnaceuticals Manufacturing, Wendell, North Carolina
• GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Research, RTP, North Carolina
• Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
• Louisburg College, Louisburg, North Carolina
• Rex Hospital, Raleigh, North Carolina
• G.E. Mortgage Corporation, Raleigh, North Carolina
• Occidental Life Insurance Company, Raleigh, North Carolina
• Wachovia Bank, Raleigh, North Carolina
• Bank of America, Raleigh, North Carolina
• UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• Duke Hospital, Durham, North Carolina
• Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Raleigh, North Carolina
• Morgan Stanley, Cary, North Carolina
• Progress Energy, Raleigh, North Carolina