It's that black-and-white thing, and the boldness, that drew me in -
Kelly has traveled throughout the United States, Europe, North Africa, the Near East, and Nepal. His work often incorporates unusual materials from his journeys, among them vintage posters and printed antique paper, obscured and layered in saturated pigments on a canvas faintly scored with irregular grids. Kelly’s paintings have been likened to palimpsests and his method described as one of building “meticulously on inhabited ground, layering materials, documents, and signs, covering them, wiping out their beauty, nearly, but allowing something of the labor and their languages to persist.” (via)
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| Thicket I (via) |
Born in 1956, he's been painting full time since 1982 - before that he worked as a commercial photographer.
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| Tantra IV, 1998 (via) |
A few months back he had a show in London (missed it!) -
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| Left, Mimesis CV, 2008; Right, Tropos V (via) |
4 comments:
When I saw the thumbnail in my reading list I thought it was Ellsworth Kelly -- never heard of Robert! Very nice work.
What powerful and impressive work, especially in the exhibition photos ... as you say, that black and white thing and with the occasional dash of red. How I wish I'd seen it!
The work is very much like Ellsworth Kelly's, who is one of my favourite artists. Never heard of Robert. Ellsworth must be in his 90s now.
Ellsworth died in 2015, aged 82. Perhaps Robert ironically appropriated his style, these art guys get up to all sorts of shenanigans. In terms of context, development and "intent", though, the two are more different than they seem at first glance.
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