Jay Kelly Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
American, b. 1961
"I’m not going to talk about my work." A cloud of defiance as thick as the smoke of his cigar wafts over him as he dabbles solder onto a tiny metal sculpture. He never had respect for conventions, rules… not even time. Just like his obsessively labored sculptures Jay Kelly seems to move fluently through centuries. Not agreeing on the now. His pieces tell a story of yearning for a time that never existed. Like props or artifacts from a world just beyond reach - that seem all too familiar but, then again, elude understanding. This small-scale work ranges from burdened to playful. From imposing to delicate. Alone, they stand tall and proud at all but 6 inches. Together the pieces form a unity, a tiny city of sorts. Created on a small folding table in NYC, these pieces feel influenced by their surroundings. With hints of old Americana, city brutality, grace, elegance, cast away curb-side items, industrial landscapes, busted tires and washed up buoys. "I like to refine my shapes over the years. I feel like I’m getting closer to the purest forms and shapes that turn me on," Kelly absentmindedly says about his work. "They have to have a certain weight," he continues, now filing at tiny metal flanges. "See… I’m a tinkerer… that’s what I do".
-Suzanne Levesque
Jay Kelly was born in 1961 and received his B.A. from Syracuse University in 1983. Originally a photorealist painter, Kelly shifted his focus towards abstraction in the late 1990s. Moving away from his remarkably rendered realist paintings, Kelly’s practice evolved into a completely anti-representational body of work. Calling to mind the work of Martin Puryear, Paul Klee, Alexander Calder, and Tim Burton, the work’s clean lines and minimal aesthetic also allude to 20th century modernist architecture and furniture.(Biography provided by Jim Kempner Fine Art)
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Artist: Jay Kelly
Untitled #2010
By Jay Kelly
Located in New York, NY
Untitled #2010, 2024
Graphite on paper
12 x 9”
Category
2010s Jay Kelly Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Graphite
Untitled #2012
By Jay Kelly
Located in New York, NY
Untitled #2012, 2024
Graphite on paper
12 x 9”
Category
2010s Jay Kelly Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Graphite
Untitled #2004
By Jay Kelly
Located in New York, NY
Untitled #2004, 2023
Graphite on paper
12 x 9”
Category
2010s Jay Kelly Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Graphite
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Jay Kelly drawings and watercolor paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Jay Kelly drawings and watercolor paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Jay Kelly in graphite, pencil and more. Not every interior allows for large Jay Kelly drawings and watercolor paintings, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Marc Swanson, Carol Wax, and Alexander Ross. Jay Kelly drawings and watercolor paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $3,200 and tops out at $3,650, while the average work can sell for $3,200.