Kevin Kelly

Another drawing from collage- blending direct observations with photo references with necessary inventions.

I puzzle over being a studio artist a lot. Is it authentic? The impulse to draw and paint comes naturally enough, and I love working plein air. I love the direct negotiations I have to make, discovering my own biases, limits, and struggling towards believability with a subject. But I am also a slow processor, mulling over observations for weeks (or more) at a time. And I love creating complications, inviting different elements and even time frames to mingle and bump up against each other. So, mixing varied ingredients over many work sessions in the studio seems to make more sense for right now.
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"I'm Sorry That You Feel That Way"
egg tempera and grease pencil on vellum
36"x24"

In working on these drawings, I've been trying to find balance between the tangible and the intangible, thinking about transition and memory and observation all having a voice. Of course,  drawing is a great way to peel back layers to a more naked minimum, forcing those layers to have to stand up or flop.

"Assumption"
egg tempera and grease pencil on vellum
36"x24"
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I've been experimenting with paper pulp painting for the last few months, and this is the first piece I've wanted to keep. It is based on some sketches and color studies produced in the painting process. I like the fragility and immediacy of the material, the simplified dialect it imposes. The pulp is a composite of art papers and dried acrylic paint that accumulate in my studio- which is intriguing, as I am always thinking about the composite of what we leave behind. Anyway, the right amount of resistance in a small piece.

"Be Kind"
colored paper pulp mounted to felt
26"x21"
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Another long painting journey. The John Mack bridge in south Wichita is an architectural treasure- the second longest remaining Marsh Rainbow bridge in the United States. It has been a part of my landscape since I was a kid. That landscape has continued to shift, as south Wichita has fallen further and further behind in investment of resources. Still, I love the contrast of the optimistic, otherworldly 1920's design and the contemporary context that surrounds it now. And I love when a painting journey can grow my capacity for holding contradiction, hope and disappointment, in the same space.
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"Somewhere Over the Under"
acrylic and oil on paper
51"x88"
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