21/11/2002
Roger Kelly
Nylon, London
Roger Kelly’s recent paintings depict a series of fabricated landscapes. These landscapes appear to be of a real place, but just as the memory of an experience or place can distort and become idealised over time, these locations are created by a combination of received and first hand information.
NYLON is delighted to present a show of new paintings by the artist Roger Kelly, following his recent shows at Alex de March and Rare galleries.
Roger Kelly’s recent paintings depict a series of fabricated landscapes.
These landscapes appear to be of a real place, but just as the memory of an experience or place can distort and become idealised over time, these locations are created by a combination of received and first hand information.
Each painting begins with a variety of materials sourced from films, books, paintings and photography. This becomes the basis for a linear drawing, uniting photographic references with invented elements. The drawing is then enlarged and transferred on to canvas. Paint is carefully applied between the lines of the drawing until the fiction is complete. The result is a figurative image that appears to break down into it’s many abstract components, the process of making an image becoming as apparent as the image itself.
Although these locations might first appear to offer an escapism into narrative or representation, the process prevents any kind of read beyond the surface of the work. It is tempting to look for a journey, but these are non-places, de-located nowheres. By pushing both the pop and romantic legacy at the same pace and the same time, these paintings represent the ambiguity and contradictions of desire.Roger Kelly is exhibiting this year in the shows Painting and Illustration, curated by Adam Ross at The Luckman Gallery, Los Angeles; The Nearest Faraway Place, Wolverhamton City Art Gallery, The Nunnery, London, The Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, and Kent institute of Art and Design; Closer, Standpoint Gallery, London; Lonely this Christmas, i-level Gallery, London and exhibited in 2001 in Vice Versa,curated by Michael Lieberman, Rare Art Properties, New York;Surface Tension, Cell Project Space, London; and in 2000 in Counter, AVCO, London; Group Show, Fredericks Freiser Gallery, New York and Nowhere Fast, Century House, London. He has also had solo exhibitions at Rare Art Properties, New York 2002 and Galleria Alex de March in 2001.
OPENING HOURS: THURSDAY - SUNDAY 12-6PM
NYLON
10 Vyner Street
London E2 9DG
T 44 20 8983 5333