Meet Kour Pour, The Young British Artist Who Specializes in Carpet Paintings

Kour Pour’s unique talent lies in the way he translates intricately-patterned carpets onto panelled surfaces using his signature multi-step, labor-intensive method. Each of Kour Pour’s canvases takes months to prepare. Every painting is based on a particular rug or carpet that Pour has researched from exhibitions and auction catalogues, and each design incorporates a range of techniques, including scrupulous hand painting, silkscreen printing, and applying paint layers with a broomstick.

The process starts with the canvas mounted onto a panel, which Pour then primes with several layers of gesso using a broomstick. These layers represent the warp and weft of woven rugs. He then silkscreens an image of the selected rug onto his prepared surface before meticulously painting in the carpet’s details.

Pour adds his signature splash to each of his pieces by using a palette of acrylic paint that is much more vibrant than than the colors evident in the Silk Road merchants’ rugs that he typically copies. After completing months of this preparatory work, Kour Pour uses a circular sander to erase parts of the image. He then finishes his work by repainting these obliterated areas as much as possible.

Kour Pour has been quoted explaining the inspiration and driving force behind his popular series of carpet paintings saying, ‘Carpets were a part of my childhood growing up in England. I remember my father’s rug shop and how he would hand-dye sections of carpets that had faded away, in order to bring them back to their original vibrant colors.’

Each of his pieces are 8-feet-tall, and the images depicted in his paintings range from Chinese Dragons to patterns of animals and men on horses.