Dwain Kelley

Dwain Kelley's November 2008 exhibit, entitled Resurrection, includes assemblages, paintings, and drawings that span the last six decades. During the years from the early 1950s to the 70s Kelley was privileged to have been accepted in thirty-six juried exhibitions, showing alongside artists of regional and national renown. He was awarded purchase prizes or awards in eighteen of those exhibitions.

Kelley attempts to re-create the excitement of discovery he felt as a kid reading about the discovery of Machu Picchu in Peru by Hiram Bingham in 1912, King Tut’s Tomb in Egypt by Howard Carter in 1922, uncovering the history of the first native Americans or the countless other archaeological discoveries from around the world.

Kelley’s paintings and drawings have slowly evolved from early realism — landscapes, primarily — to works that retain that foundation but explore the shape, line, and color relationships in a more experimental direction. Even in the simplest pen-and-ink drawing, there is always movement and tension. Almost all of his current sculptural assemblages are grounded in the unearthing of another time. Using a palette of old wood, metals, cloth, glass, rocks, gold leaf, and new materials aged to emulate that look. Some pieces are carefully orchestrated while others start off spontaneously and then develop throughout the process. Bringing the mediums and decades together, Resurrection presents the keystones to a lifetime of creativity.

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