Lee Kelly | Recent Work | Viewing Room
Elizabeth Leach Gallery is pleased to present Recent Work by Lee Kelly, featuring steel sculptures, cast bronze forms and figurative watercolors. The exhibition focuses on new works inspired by past writings, musings and studies found inside the pages of the artist’s studio sketchbooks.
Lee Kelly, Yucatan Unicycle, 2020, corten steel, 128 x 75 x 45"
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In Yucatan Unicycle, 2020, an elongated vertical shape balances on a bisected wheel-like structure at the base. The form communicates the strength and frailty of the human body sitting solidly balanced and grounded in place, while its Cor-ten steel patina is intended to weather and evolve over time.
Pages from the artist’s sketchbook
Lee Kelly, Tibetan Wedding, 2021, stainless steel, 96 x 70 x 24”
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Kelly’s travel inspirations are evident in the sculptural works that range in scale from immense standing sculptures to intimately sized cast bronze pieces. The lyrical imagery synthesizes modernist and ancient aesthetics, as exemplified in Tibetan Wedding, 2020, where the central figure of the circular trio appears to be residing over a ceremony between two zig-zagged shaped forms perched on rudimentary wheels. Swirling markings on the steel’s surface are made by a grinder tool that texturizes and activates the metal, allowing brilliant light reflections at every vantage point. The end result evokes a feeling of exuberant celebration.
Lee Kelly, Untitled C (detail), 2005, mixed media collage with gold leaf, 14.75 x 14.25” framed
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He began as an explorer inside the energies of youthful experimentation, matured to invent and travel in the arena of monumental public space and celebration, and now has found, in the last period of his life, a path rich in allusion and meditative shimmer
–BRUCE GUENTHER, CURATOR (2010)
Promotional material from Kelly’s 1963 exhibition, Recent Work
STUDIO VISIT WITH LEE KELLY
Watch Kelly discuss his studio practice, art making process, and the ideas behind Recent Work. To see the see the full exhibition walkthrough, click HERE.
MORE INFORMATION
Want to see more Lee Kelly? Download the pocket guide to his public works around Portland, OR and beyond.