News
Fall 2011 Updates
Taking on Tradition – Six Emerging Virginia Painters and Printmakers
Brian Kelley, Becca Kallem, Amanda Wagstaff, Kathleen Hall, Devin Mawdsley, Anna Wagner
September 15 – December 15
Williams Gallery, Huntley Hall, Washington & Lee University
If you are in Southwest Virginia, be sure to check out the show! It’s curated by a former professor of mine, the painter Linda Carey. There are quite a few William & Mary alumni in this show, especially my good friends Becca Kallem (another DC area artist) and Devin Mawsdley (who also went to Indiana University).
Williamsburg Plein Air Event
On Saturday, September 24th, I will be in Williamsburg, VA plein air painting. Stop by the Merchants Square near the Duke of Gloucester St. Barnes and Noble from 4:00-5:30 pm to see the paintings in person!
Get Involved: Help The Transform Project
This project requires something dear from others. It requires a real sacrifice as well as a clear justification for why anyone would want to participate. I am interested in creating a body of paintings that come from objects that have real and deep meanings to their owners, but at the expense of destroying them.
To start, I will need volunteers willing to make a trade. They will give me an object, one that has a sentimental or emotional value, though, not necessarily a monetary one. I will give them a painting of the object in return. The object will be reproduced in life size and will be painted directly from life. In order to unify this body of work, all objects will be situated in a twelve inch cube, a shadow box that functions as a void. All paintings will be twelve inches square. After finishing the painting, the object will be destroyed. From this point on, the existence of the object will be contained solely within the painting. The material aspect of the object will be gone, leaving only the idea of the object and all its associated ideas to reside within the painting, as well as the mind of the owner. From this perspective, the object will not be lost at all.
No money will be involved during this transfer. All volunteers will give an object and receive a painting, and nothing else. I have no preconceived ideas as to what kinds of individuals and what kinds of objects will find their way to this project. I am looking for roughly a dozen volunteers and ultimately a gallery or other suitable venue that would be willing to exhibit the work. Ideally, I would be able to hold onto the paintings until they are all finished, hold an exhibition, and then transfer ownership of the paintings to the volunteers. I am looking for a gallery that would be willing to present such a show with the knowledge that none of the works in the series are for sale.
This project is in debt to a few ideas. First, it will continue the long tradition of painting as a peculiar form of alchemical transformation. For example, lead really does turn into gold in paint. All one needs is lead white and some yellow, powdered earth and they will be free to paint as many bars of gold as they desire. Second, the project is a response to the website Significant Objects. The writers at Significant Objects regularly take objects valued at a few dollars from flea markets, thrift stores and yard sales and write fictitious stories about them. After publishing the stories, the objects are sold for exponentially higher values at auction. One is also reminded of certain best-selling, fictitious memoirs and counterfeit, religious relics that profit from the same principle. Rather than take something with no value and find a way to make it valuable through fiction, I am attempting to transfer the value of memory from one object to another.
If you are reading this, then I consider you to potentially be a valuable contributor to this project and would encourage you to also recommend this project to others.
Thanks,
Brian
bpkell@gmail.com
Recent Exhibitions
Brian Kelley at the Lee Center (on until June 30th)
The exhibition is my first solo show in Virginia since I returned back from Indiana. There are two dozen works in oil and watercolor. It is located on the second floor of the Lee Center, 1108 Jefferson Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. Open by appointment through the Alexandria Commission for the Arts. Call 703-746-5588 for more information.
Paint Mix: Five DC/VA Painters (February 11 to March 13)
This is a group show of local painters that deal with the slippery boundaries between representation, abstraction, and nonobjective art. The exhibition, curated by Rebecca Kallem, includes artists Brian Kelley, Emily Do, Christopher Dolan, Mike Dowley and Joren Lindholm. Reception Friday, February 11, 7-9 pm, Artist Talk, Sunday, March 13, 5 pm, DCAC, 2438 18th St. NW, Washington, DC.
March Madness (March 17 to March 27)
The Target Gallery and the March of Dimes are teaming up to raise money for both organizations with appropriate title, “March Madness.” All works in this juried exhibition are restricted to 10″x10″ wood panels, provided by the gallery. All works will be going for $100, so expect things to go about as fast as the real March Madness. There will be art party for the event March 25, 7-11pm (ticket required). Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria, VA 22314 (703-838-4565×4 – targetgallery@torpedofactory.org).