With roots in minimalism and modernity, Kelly's approach to painting is driven by the notion of the absolute, the reduced, essential form. He recognises an affinity between abstraction, natural sciences and spirituality as ways to visualise the unseen, with the line as a fundamental element. In his most recent works, he is looking at painting also as a spatial entity, linked to the geometric underpinnings of the cosmos. In a nod to sacred geometry, he uses shaped canvases, mainly variations of crosses and circles with interlocking arcs, semicircles and waves formed by pulsating lines that feel discovered rather than painted, emerging from multiple layers of colour whose order seems indistinguishable.
Experiencing these paintings, we can’t help thinking of celestial bodies and a cosmic, universal order; Kelly’s luminous lines, unconfined by the shapes around them, seem to extend beyond the surfaces and even the gallery walls hinting at a vastness of time and space that is simultaneously wondrous and incomprehensible. And yet, these works feel familiar, intimate and very much part of our world here and now. Where Kelly’s earlier work relied on recognisable symbols and motifs or figures that resembled ancient deities to examine structures of shared human experience and belief, this body of work feels autonomous, occupying the space at the intersection of spirit and matter. Through distinctly human proportions and gaze, cosmic order becomes personal iconography, liberating and reinforcing, looking both beyond and within. Stripping away idols and symbols reveals a physicality and vulnerability that makes interconnectedness even more profound: what is left is nothing and everything, a pulse that is only made meaningful through the presence of love.
Love, which moves the sun and the other stars
_ Dante Alighieri
The exhibition will be accompanied by a text by Ben Street.
Jonathan Kelly (b. 1988, Hereford) is a British painter who lives and works in London. He is a graduate of Wimbledon College of Art (2011) and the Royal Academy Schools (2017).
JONATHAN KELLY ~ 37 degrees / when the gods have left | Press Release
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