20/20 Vision, Second Edition

The Art of Contemporary University Printmaking

Brian Kelly

In my estimation, image making is a journey into the unseen -- never the unknown.

When I look down on a sheet of paper, or a freshly ground stone, I know there is a yet-to -be discovered image within the surface. When a work begins, I have no specific agenda, just an attitude of energy, personal memories, and a love for just pure drawing. The work evolves, beginning with one form leading to the next, and so on. These playing of forms off of each other result in a puzzling assortment of figures and shapes that move through an apparently irrational though structured world.

My work draws its influence from the environments located throughout Louisiana to those that I travel and explore throughout Utah, New Mexico, Montana, and Colorado. These landscapes feed compositional structure and rhythms with in my work.

My work embraces the representational. They are narrative's that first talk about me. They speak about specific experiences and places that are both social, personal, and political in nature. I adopt, and personify, animal forms as specific characters within these narrative events to speak metaphorically about personal and social issues. The animals and images employed in these narratives are presented in motionless state, as if they were specimens. As a result, the scenes become little glimpses of a world outside of, or removed from, the human realm. The compositions tend to be overflowing with imagery and seemingly chaotic but always grounded in a strong sense of structural formalism and a pure love for the rendering of form. Simply put, my images are just an excuse to get inside my head and draw.

While I do not intend for, or expect the viewer to be concerned with the specific personal event that might inspire an image, I do intend to engage them with that event's peculiar and evocative presence. I want the viewer to react, explore, and interpret these surreal worlds, filled with their fantastic beasts, humans, critters, timelessness, and at times humor.