Julia Schwartz interviews painter Kevin Appel about his work and career.

Asked about the progress in his work from "straightforward… interiors" to more "fractured" spaces, Appel remarks: "Early on the interest in architecture was motivated by a desire to bring space back into my work. Clean, unpopulated space. Over time the objects in the interiors acted as stand ins for occupants, so I got rid of them. By ’99 I was designing a house specifically for the work and using this design for an installation where the paintings built together to create an understanding of the space. From there by 2004-6 I was becoming interested in home as a more quotidian reference this ultimately exploded into rubble, what I call the pile paintings. I would say the current work takes all of these impulses and pares them down into concise explorations of the same interests. They look to me as if they are combining the vast flat planes of the early work with the dissolution that followed."