We welcome your questions and comments: tamarind@unm.edu
All contents ©1998 Tamarind Institute All rights reserved.
Last updated: 4/3/09
Robert Kelly's work continues to explore the metaphysics of mark-making and
painting on a variety of richly constructed surfaces. Combining influences of
the Bauhaus from Van Doesburg to Mondrian, with those of Schwitters and Klee,
Kelly weds hints of the historical with the contemporary. His play of edges,
angles, and cuts creates a tension and an intuitive logic to the placement of
line and form. A twin, Robert's latest series of prints investigates the idea
of doubleness through images that reflect, oppose, or mimic each other. The
play of postive and negative spaces often accents his interest in duality.
Artist Statement 1999
The titles of my lithographs, in some way, describe their intent. Conversos,
in Spanish, connotes changing points of view. Illustrating this quite literally,
I have created a series of images whereby color bands emanate outward from singular
to multiple points of view. The shift in perspective resonates into a deceptively
simple variety of echoing patterns. These works originated from a series of
gouaches entitled Road to Nice which I completed while living in southern France
last year. As artist and traveler, I attempted to connect with the historical
and aesthetic ambiance of some of the artists (Matisse, Robert and Sonia Delaunay,
De Stael, and Leger) who had found artistic sustenance there. If open to the
effects of a new landscape and the resident muses of one's predecessors-a "conversion"
of sorts-one is at the very least likely to experience a shift in viewpoint.
Selected recent exhibitions:
| 2004 | Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, California Ann Reed Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho |
| 2003 | Color/Form/Figure, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, California Scott White Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Santa Fe An American 6, Sergio Tossi Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy Mano a Mano, Robert Kelly / Ricardo Mazal, Lendrum Fine Art, Los Angeles, California |
| 2002 | John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona Doug Udell Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| 2001 | Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Galisteo, New Mexico Currents, Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston, Texas Eye Candy, Soma Gallery, La Jolla, Layerings, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, Oregon Six in the City, Linda Durham Contemporary Art, New York |
| 2000 | Mysticism and Desire, Patricia Hamilton Fine Art, Los Angeles Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale Barbara Singer Fine Art, Cambridge, Massachusetts Passion and Perspective, Sandy Carson Gallery, Denver |
| 1999 |
Works on Paper, Betsy Senior Gallery, New York |
| 1998 | Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos: The City Series, Cedar
Rapids Museum of Art, Iowa Mary Judge & Robert Kelly, Betsy Senior Gallery, New York Limited Edition Prints & Sculpture, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland One Common Denominator, Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale |
| 1997 | State of the Question, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe Erikson and Elins Fine Art, San Francisco |
| 1996 | Contemporary New Mexico Artists, SITE Santa Fe, Santa
Fe Sarah Dobbs Gallery, Vancouver Hand Graphics, Santa Fe |
Selected public collections:
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Museum of Fine Arts, The Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe
Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Alabama
Smith College of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts
University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque
We welcome your questions and comments:
tamarind@unm.edu
All contents ©1998 Tamarind Institute All rights reserved.
Last updated:
4/3/09