Kelly Queener Paintings

Artist’s Statement (2012)

“Not to render the visible, but to render visible”

– Paul Klee

For me, exploring while creating is the primary purpose of painting. In the search for vitality, I turn to fundamental forms. Often aspects of our world that appear to be the most simple are also the most mysterious, vital and significant. Archetypes such as the sun, the horizon and passages are so simple in form but can carry much greater impact. Similarly in painting, any simple form has potential to make a more complex or challenging final image. I find this contradiction compelling- so you will often see such archetypes in my work, in varying degrees of recognizability.

In addition to ancient archetypal forms, I also seek an image that responds to frivolous modern modes. Bluntness, bizarre color choices and almost comic moments are just a few examples of these responses. These conflicting aspects wind in and out of my images as I explore the possibility of reconciling them.

My work exists in a gap between abstraction and representation. Because of this, the final image always seems as if it’s danger of another iteration, on the edge of a sudden change. The image seems both eager and elusive, both foreign and familiar.