Kelly Queener Paintings

Artist’s Statement (2016)

New Space Imagery

The paintings in this body of work reveal unexpected territories. It is a sense of discovery offset with the informal which the artist explores. In service of that exploration, forms that loosely resemble rocks, trees, windows, or other aggregations are partnered with otherworldly portals and abrupt brushwork. This partnership creates a tense specificity, charging the paintings with both humor and a sense of trespass. Sudden contrasts between deep and flat space, dynamic and static forms, vibrant and neutral colors, all serve the original exploration. Additionally, while the forms are nonfigurative, they are often imbued with a character that suggests life, habitation, activity or motion.

In uncovering these spaces, the artist seeks wonder and absurdity equally. In the associations that follow the imagery, the titles often serve to highlight and reinforce this interplay between the beautiful and the blunt.