Jay Kelly: Twenty Years of Drawing & Sculpture

J A Y K E L LY

TWENTY YEARS OF DRAWING & SCULPTURE

Jay Kelly

Jim Kempner Fine Art is pleased to announce Jay Kelly’s new exhibition: Twenty Years: Sculpture & Drawing. The exhibition will feature a selection of the artist’s early work from 1997 up to his recent sculptures and drawings from 2018. The exhibition will be on view from January 18th through March 4th, 2018. An opening reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, January 18th, from 6-8 pm.

The exhibition will feature Kelly’s last ever photorealist painting, Oxygen Tanks, from 1998. Prior to his abstract work, he was producing highly detailed, photorealist paintings and graphite drawings of industrial landscapes. Ivan Karp, legendary SoHo art dealer, was a huge supporter of Kelly’s photorealist work, selling every painting Kelly brought in. During this time, after spending hours during the day working on his hyperreal paintings, Kelly would explore abstraction at night. He found himself emotionally enmeshed in the world of abstraction and began to work exclusively in that aesthetic.

His earliest abstract drawings from 1997 have a photographic appearance, however they are made entirely by hand with graphite on paper. In the later years, Kelly drew exclusively on vellum with graphite, pastels, oil and colored pencils. His very first abstract sculptures (The Weissman Group #1-7) from 2004 will also be included in this survey.

These early works, made from steel wire, Japanese paper, ink and thread, are suspended by wires, a separation from his later free standing sculptures.

Jay Kelly is a self-taught artist from Pasadena, California. His work is in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; The British Museum, London, England; The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, NY; the San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA; The Yale University Art Museum, New Haven, CT; and many other private and public collections.

For more information, please contact gallery director Dru Arstark, dru@jimkempner.com, or associate director Sarah Browne, sarah@jimkempner.com.

Oxygen Tanks, 1998.

Watercolor on paper.

10 x 10 1/2”.

3rd St. Central Ave./Kearny, N.J., 1993.

Oil on wood.

4 x 6 3/4”.

Untitled #409, 2015.

Wood, gesso, acrylic.

10 1/4 x 4 x 2”.

Untitled #490, 2018.

Metal.

6 x 5 x 1 1/2”.

Untitled #524, 2004.

Graphite on vellum mounted to museum board.

Image size: 5 x 5�.

Paper size: 11 x 11�.

Untitled #483, 2017.

Metal.

12 x 4 x 3”.

Untitled-Presence-7-7, 2017.

Acrylic on polyester screen.

34 x 34”.

Untitled #1533, 2006.

Graphite and pastel on vellum mounted to museum board.

Image size: 5 x 5”.

Paper size: 11 x 11”.

Untitled #303, 1999.

Pastel and graphite on vellum mounted.

Image size: 5 x 5�.

Paper size: 11 x 11�.

Untitled #485, 2017.

Wood, gesso, acrylic.

10 x 2 x 2”.

Untitled #486, 2017.

Metal.

6 1/4 x 2 1/2 x 2”.

Untitled #479-481, 2017.

Three wood, gesso, acrylic sculptures.

Size ranges: 4 1/2 x 1 3/4 x 1 3/4” to 5 1/2 x 2 x 2”.

Untitled #479, 2017.

Wood, gesso, acrylic.

5 1/2 x 2 x 2”.

Untitled #480, 2017.

Wood, gesso, acrylic.

4 1/2 x 1 3/4 x 1 3/4”.

Untitled #481, 2017.

Wood, gesso.

3 3/4 x 2 x 2”.

Untitled #472, 2017.

Metal.

9 1/2 x 2 x 2 1/4�.

Untitled #470, 2017.

Metal.

11 1/4 x 2 1/2 x 2�.

Untitled #1919, 2017.

Colored pencil on vellum mounted to museum board.

Image size: 5 x 5�.

Paper size: 11 x 11�.

Untitled #1905, 2017.

Colored pencil on vellum mounted to museum board.

Image size: 5 x 5�.

Paper size: 11 x 11�.

Untitled #469, 2017.

Metal.

2 1/4 x 7 x 3 1/4�.

Untitled #468, 2017.

Metal, wood, gesso, acrylic.

4 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 2 12�.

Untitled #1268, 2004.

Pastel and graphite on vellum mounted to museum board.

Image size: 5 x 5�.

Paper size: 11 x 11�.

Untitled #487, 2017.

Metal, Japanese paper, archival glue.

8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 1 1/2�.

Untitled #1828, 2010.

Colored pencil on vellum mounted to museum board.

Image size: 5 x 5�.

Paper size: 11 x 11�.

Untitled #1787, 2009.

Oil on vellum mounted to museum board.

Image size: 5 x 5�.

Paper size: 11 x 11�.

Untitled #467, 2017.

Wood, gesso, acrylic.

7 1/2 x 2 x 2”.

Untitled #458, 2017.

Wood, gesso, acrylic.

8 3/4 x 5 1/4 x 4”.

Untitled #482, 2017.

Metal.

10 1/4 x 3 1/4 x 1�.

Untitled #406, 2015.

Metal.

9 x 2 3/4 x 1�.

Untitled #512, 2000.

Pastel and graphite on vellum.

Image size: 3 x 6�.

Paper size: 11 x 11�.

Untitled #437, 2000.

Pastel and graphite on vellum.

Image size: 3 3/4 x 6�.

Paper size: 11 x 11�.

Untitled #529, 2000.

Pastel and graphite on vellum.

Image size: 3 x 6�.

Paper size: 11 x 11�.

Untitled #683, 2001.

Pastel and graphite on vellum.

Image size: 3 x 6�.

Paper size: 11 x 11�.

Untitled #47, 1998.

Graphite on vellum.

Image size: 3 7/8 x 3 1/2�.

Paper size: 13 3/4 x 10 3/4�.

Untitled #1268, 2004.

Pastel and graphite on vellum mounted to museum board.

Image size: 5 x 5�.

Paper size: 11 x 11�.

JIM KEMPNER FINE ART Jim Kempner Fine Art specializes in contemporary paintings, sculpture, photography, and works on paper, with a special emphasis on contemporary master prints and outdoor sculpture. Our inventory appeals to the established as well as beginning collector. We work closely with art advisors, designers, corporations and museums to expand and enrich their varied collections.

Located in the heart of Chelsea, the gallery’s three story modernist-inspired structure designed by architects Smith & Thompson boasts one of the few outdoor sculpture gardens in New York City, and is included in a number of books about contemporary architecture.

Our inventory includes work by Donald Baechler, John Baldessari, Louise Bourgeois, Christo, Chuck Close, Richard Diebenkorn, Jim Dine, Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, Spencer Finch, Jane Hammond, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, Jasper Johns, Deborah Kass, Alex Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, William Kentridge, Jeff Koons, Robert Mangold, Robert Motherwell (Jim Kempner Fine Art represents the Dedalus Foundation, Robert Motherwell’s print archive, in New York), Sol Lewitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Longo, Elizabeth Peyton, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, Paula Scher, Sean Scully, Frank Stella, Donald Sultan, Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol and others.

Among the contemporary artists whose work we represent are Robert Attanasio, Christopher Beane, Stanley Casselman, Long Bin Chen, Eduardo del Valle and Mirta Gómez, Rinaldo Frattolillo, Gianfranco Gorgoni, John Grande, John Henry, Charlie Hewitt, Jay Kelly, Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese, Jerry Mischak, David Mitchell, Craig Norton, Greg Parker, Robert Petersen, Randy Regier, Tom Slaughter, Pal Svensson and Boaz Vaadia.

Formerly a private dealer, Jim Kempner opened his gallery, Jim Kempner Fine Art, at its present location in the fall of 1997. Dru Arstark has been the gallery director since 1998 and Sarah Bielicky has been the associate director since 2011. Jim Kempner has published prints by Rinaldo Frattolillo, Charlie Hewitt, Robert Indiana, Paula Scher, Bernar Venet, in addition to Gianfranco Gorgoni’s photographs of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. Other publications include Ligorano/Reese’s Line Up portfolio, Untitled 2001 silkscreen, and the DEMOCRACY lightbox, made in collaboration with gallery director Dru Arstark, under the name Madness of Art Editions. Additionally, he has published his first editioned print, Apocryphal Now, in 2014.

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