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
Baltic Nocturne stands as a striking departure from the artist’s usual exuberant use of bold primary colors. In this work, Kelly has opted for a more subdued, almost atmospheric palette, evocative if it’s title with its cool, serene yet mysterious qualities of the Baltic Sea at night. The title could also suggest a connection to a musical form, the "nocturne," which is typically associated with a reflective, meditative mood—often evoking night-time or serene settings. This musical analogy may serve to deepen the sense of quiet contemplation embodied in the painting. The muted, almost ethereal palette complements this nocturnal theme by creating a feeling of stillness and subtle beauty, one that invites the viewer to linger in the cool silence of the moment.
Kelly’s characteristic use of hard-edge forms remains intact, geometric and precise, the quadrants, while clearly defined, seem to flow into one another with an ease that suggests a natural, organic rhythm rather than mechanical rigidity.
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.