A native Californian, Ken Auster grew up with his feet planted in the surfing culture. While working his way towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Long Beach State University, he built one of the world’s most prominent silkscreen and t-shirt companies, creating now legendary surfing art. His surfing images became the “fine art” of this beach culture.

In the mid 1990’s Ken moved to a more serious art level, involving him with the immediacy of oil paints, as opposed to the process-burdened medium of printmaking. Throwing himself into the splendor of “plein air” (on location) painting. Ken discovered the richness and broad colors of the city life he had long avoided. He rejoiced in this new found ability to paint anything and everything- cafes, bars, train stations, airports, street scenes, and of course, never far away, was the beach, his first love.

The transition from surf art to serious impressionism was natural for Ken. His passion and obsession to reach a new understanding between him and the oil painting medium took on a new intensity of discovery. “I simply want to achieve the ultimate communication on the canvas-to say more with less.” Ken says.

This comes through with his deft use of color, his economies of brush strokes, and his simple, yet beautifully structured compositions. As one famous critic described “each painting captures a moment in time charged with a hint of a narrative drama. And each is rendered with vibrant immediacy that a single glance excites other senses as well.” Ken describes himself as a painter of his surroundings that communicates and documents the reality of our times, the edge between nature and man made, the vitality of the city and everyday occurrences that we take for granted.

In a relatively short time since his transition to plein air painting, Ken Auster has moved to the forefront of American contemporary impressionists. He consistently walks away with gold medals and first place awards at juried exhibits. His work has been in museum exhibits at the Haggin Museum in Stockton, Colorado History Museum in Denver, CO, Laguna Art Museum in Laguna Beach, CA, the Bakersfield Museum in Bakersfield, CA, Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, CA and the Texas Museum of Art in Corpus Christi, TX. He has been featured in magazines such as Art & Antiques, Southwest Art, and articles about Ken have appeared in Art Talk, Los Angeles Times, Surfers Journal, and the Orange County Register. His work is collected by some of the most respected galleries, corporations and patrons worldwide. Auster is a signature member of the Plein Air Painters of America, a founding member of the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, and a signature member of the California Art Club. Ken’s passion for painting is shared with hundreds of students who travel from around the world to attend his workshops.