Soul-Crusher
(2012)
Tell
us about yourself and your work.
I
was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where I teach high school art and
am currently raising two kids with my wife. I have been making art as
a serious Endeavour (I have always dabbled) for around 10 years.
My
work is an ever-evolving beast that in many ways has become a form of
self-portraiture or, in the very least, has changed from formal
studies in organic and geometric abstraction to some strange form of
self-expression. I like to think of my most current body of work
(which can be viewed in its entirety here) as
a spewing forth of partially digested cultural influences or
post-modern visual vomit.
Piss-Business
(2012)
What
got you started?
My
grandmother, Mary Ferris Kelly, is an amazing artist. I grew up
watching her paint the most amazing impressionistic pictures filled
with swirling colors and figures. I must admit that my paintings are
much darker and ironic than hers, but she was, and still is, my most
important inspiration. In her early years, she made some of the best
geometric and Abstract-Expressionist paintings I have ever seen to
this day. Those really got me going!
Cross-Section
(2012)
What
keeps you in?
I
enjoy being able to call myself a painter. I take part in a tradition
and I am adding to the narrative. I would be lying if I said I didn’t
care about receiving recognition (which is always nice) but for some
reason I continue to make these strange and, for all intents and
purposes, useless objects called paintings. It may be an existential
thing.
In
the Womb of the Desert Sun (2012)
What/who inspires you? In what way?
Inspired
may be the wrong word. I am inspired by other artists, yes. But I
also become secretly jealous and competitive. After I see really
great art, I usually return to my studio with higher expectations for
myself. The art-world is tough and nobody pays attention to mediocre,
safe art.
That
said, some of those artists that helped me push myself further are:
David Reed (you can see some of his brushstrokes in my painting
“Cross-section”), Glenn Brown, and Michael David, who is my
genius-mentor in Atlanta and to whom I owe a lot.
Juggernaut
(2012)
What is art for you? Examples of "real art"?
I
tend to believe that “art” can be anything at all, as long as
someone (creator(s) or audience) dubs it to be art. If someone gives
it the name “art” then it magically becomes that person’s
personal expression of whatever he/she believes art to be. It becomes
an instant symbol for that person’s (who is now an artist)
aesthetic. The line between “good” art and “bad” art,
however, is a little more complicated. The best examples I can think
of are the cave paintings from Lascaux, France. They are raw, pure,
expressions made from what was available (charcoal, berries, chalk,)
about what the artists knew: survival.
Origin
of the World (After Courbet) (2012)
The
most powerful/your favorite medium: picture, words, sounds? Anything
else?
My
paintings are made on thin aluminum panels (which I like because they
are light and can be projected off the wall by hidden cradles and
become these floating squares and rectangles, and hopefully in the
future, circles). I use acrylic and latex paints, which I manipulate
in various ways (secret) and cover in multiple layers of epoxy resin
(liquid glass). I then use a variety of inks to draw upon the raised
epoxy. For all you theorists out there, I am deconstructing the
traditional hierarchy between painting and drawing. In many ways, my
paint is an “under-drawing” and my drawing is the finishing
touch.
My
River Runs to Thee (2012)
Plans for future (of your work)?
Anything you’d like to add? Maybe a song, a picture, hello to friends and family?
I
plan on continuing to make what I think are exciting and interesting
paintings, contributing to the narrative, and helping the “beast to
evolve”. I am currently looking for a gallery to work with. You can
contact me at jacobmkelley@gmail.com,
follow my blog at jakekelley.wordpress.com, and buy prints at
saatchionline.com. Thanks!
Symbiot
(2012)
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