"The Pearl Diver and Other Stories," on view September 1 - 30, 2023, brings Santa Fe native, Robert Kelly, back to New Mexico with his first exhibition here since 2012.
Kelly’s unique process starts with a canvas surfaced, layer by layer, with up to 30 strata of paper, overlaid with old, archival papers that Kelly finds and collects on his travels. These papers can be old movie posters, advertisements, announcements, often with text in a variety of languages. Finally, the piece is glazed and then it is ready for Kelly’s oil painting of forms. The geometric forms themselves are exquisitely precise. Balanced tonally with the faded paper surfaces and yet completely integrated and responsive to the complex patterns that have been gridded and aligned beneath. There is an intricate dialogue at work between the forms and the layers, between past and present.
