Influenced by a myriad of disparate and iconic artists such as Brancusi, Bourgeois, Diebenkorn, and Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Kelly creates art that is intelligent, alert, harmonious, and yet paradoxical. Incorporating unexpected materials from his travels, Kelly layers for example printed antique papers, documents, signs, and vintage posters onto panels that are then built up and covered with saturated pigments. Remnants of their beauty and the history and language they impart are thus preserved in new modern ways. Paint is applied with puzzle-like precision in shapes that capture strong lines, forms, and color. These are sophisticated works that carefully meld the past with the modern and the new in an elegance that is just beautiful. Kelly is especially mindful of how the shapes in his work interact with each other.
"Much like a stonemason building a wall, my recent work seems to be anchored in a step-by-step process of composing formal puzzles. I have grown fond of the pared-down tools of line, form and color and the bountiful yield of their juxtapositions, without the need of references or symbolic otherness to give them meaning. The tension of exquisite junctions and disjunctions achieved by a process of patient build-up of papered and painted layers and edge-to-edge arrangements, makes for a fine focus of meditative work. Though the work has formal and austere footings the efforts of edit and re-edit seems to create sensual surfaces that expose a history of tactile decisions. My affection for the likes of Hans Arp, Myron Stout, Tony Smith, Brancusi, Calder and Ellsworth Kelly, plus the Bauhaus Gang, coupled with over 20 years of crafting the surfaces I paint on, gives me a small niche in this intimate investigation of form that I can call my own."
—Robert Kelly
In the Onda series Robert Kelly highlight in a creative Bauhaus style how circles interact with each other or space around them. The circles appear to be made of note paper, a signature sign of Kelly's paintings which often have a mix of materials as the medium of the piece. The circles pale color contrast with the rich burgundy background in an innately visually appealing way. However, Kelly adds dimension with both overlapping and contained lines that dissect the circles into even more shapes. In Onda LXXII and Onda LXXI there are both 5 circles that seemed to be placed only inches away but Kelly picks up on what a little space can do to the interplay of the shapes. The shapes are not symmetrical or uniform in size; however, the two obvious mate pieces are intriguing because of their incongruities. For example, with an eye for detail one can see the writing of the material used under the paint.
Influenced by a myriad of disparate and iconic artists such as Brancusi, Bourgeois, Calder, Diebenkorn, Mondrian, and Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Kelly creates art that is intelligent, alert, harmonious, and yet paradoxical. Some of his works are reminiscent of a palimpsest while others like the Onda series have less discernable mediums. Incorporating unexpected materials from his travels, Kelly layers for example printed antique papers, documents, signs, and vintage posters onto panels that are then built up and covered with saturated pigments. Remnants of their beauty and the history and language they impart are thus preserved in new modern ways. Paint is applied with puzzle-like precision in shapes that capture strong lines, forms, and color. These are sophisticated works that carefully meld the past with the modern and the new in an elegance that is just beautiful. Kelly is especially mindful of how the shapes in his work interact with each other.
Studio of the Artist