Collection: Jay Kelly

(b. 1961)

Jay Kelly began his career as a photorealist; however his work began shifting toward abstraction in the 1990s, eventually becoming completely non-representational. Split between two separate modes of working, Kelly makes sculptures and drawings. His sculptures, cut to an intimate scale, are made of an assortment of wood, nickel, silver, gesso and acrylic paint and consistently take on biomorphic qualities that reference organic and living forms.

Represented in his edition, Untitled is an example of Kelly’s vellum drawings in which he uses graphite, acrylic and gouache to impart a system of rhythmic gestures that are made atmospheric by the translucent quality of the vellum. Many of the market found in Kelly’s work can be traced back a range of influences including 1950s abstraction, Surrealism, 20th century Modernist architecture, jazz music and graphic design.

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

British Museum, London, UK

Brooklyn Museum, NY

Contemporary Museum Honolulu, HI

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

San Diego Museum of Art, CA