KEVIN NEALON ART

During my tenure as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live,” I always looked forward to the Tuesday afternoon table reads. Here, we would review the week’s material with our celebrity host. When we were reading a sketch I wasn’t in, I would sometimes drift off and find my pencil doodling the faces of fellow cast members in the margins of my script.

Whomever happened to be sitting across from me - be it Chris Farley, Dana Carvey, Jan Hooks or maybe even that week's guest host - they naturally became my unwitting subjects. Sometime thereafter, on my way to standup gigs I began to discreetly draw people seated near me on airplanes. Inspired to draw, and to up my game, I learned to paint on a digital tablet (which is how I've created the portraits you'll see in my exhibition). I soon felt compelled to paint renditions of many of my own famous contemporary friends, as well as some of my early idols and even a few from before my time.

As I drew each person, I discovered I had a deep, meaningful connection to the work. A story unfolded that for me, resonates well beyond the painting itself.