CAPRICCIO:1985 - 2010 KAY HARVEY
CAPRICCIO:1985 - 2010 KAY HARVEY Over an extended period of time Kay’s art has been committed to this inward driven nature of painting. For the past few decades she has turned her efforts to investigate abstraction. Hers is a quest, a continuation of the tradition examining painting as an end in itself, an activity able to create and sustain an aesthetic experience by means of the artists vision and energy with only paint, paper, and canvas, free of any reliance on reproducing the observed world or, re-presenting an already lived experience. Kay’s art is unambiguously dedicated to the proposition of art as having a freestanding value beyond any other context. Each of the pieces in the exhibition shows Kay’s bias for a shallow, declared space over an optical illusionistic one. Each work is asymmetric and gives the feeling of imperfection. In this way Kay’s process and aesthetic decisions about rightness and artistic truth are revealed, distinguishing what is true from that which is contrived in an attempt to appear seamless and flawless. Imperfection of this kind has a melancholy sense of tim that emphasizes impermanence and becomes conducive to a deeper contemplation. Open yourself to these pictures and you may find a secret waiting, not a secret exclusively about art, but a secret about life. John Mulvany, curator After India Diamond Series 25, 1995, 24” x 23”, oil on handmade paper
Above: Stencil Collage 30, 2007, 32'' x 32'', oil on Mylar Right: Ecdysis Series, 1994, 41.5” x 30”, oil on paper Following Pages: I Am Raw II, 1993, 65” x 120”, oil on canvas
Above: After Africa 06, 2004, 48” x 36”, oil on paper Left: After Africa 05, 2004, 48” x 36”, oil on paper
“Kay Harvey has created a visual language and painting vocabulary with its own developed grammar and syntax. As you explore her work you begin to see her work through and to the edges of an idea and then see her pick up the thread in another piece or body of work and work again to the edges. There is this consistent process woven into 30 years of work.” John Mulvany, curator
Elements 02, 2000, 72” x 68”, oil on linen
Above Left: Strocoto VII, (Vietnam), Works on Metal Series, 2007, 42.5” x 30.25”, oil & carborundum on aluminum sheet Above Right: Strocoto VI, Works on Metal Series, 2007, 42.5” x 30.25”, oil & carborundum on aluminum sheet Right: Strocoto II, Works on Metal Series, 2007, 42.5” x 30.25”, oil & carborundum on aluminum sheet
Water and Ice, 2010, 42.5” x 63”, oil on paper
Above Left: After India Diamond Series 30, 1993-1995, 20” x 14.5”, oil on handmade paper Above Right: After India Diamond Series 31, 1993-1995, 20” x 14.5”, oil on handmade paper Left: Pentimento Series 15, 2003, 65'' x 55'', oil on linen
Glissando, Baroque Series, 2010, 67.75” x 78”, oil on canvas
Provence 5, 1993, 14” x 11”, drawing
Provence 6, 1993, 14” x 11”, drawing
Left: I Am Raw, 1994, 54” x 45”, oil on canvas Right: Stencil Collage 12, 2006, 32” x 32”, oil on mylar
222 Shelby Street & 333 Montezuma Annex Santa Fe, New Mexico Cover Image: Stencil Collage 20, 2007, 32” x 32”, oil on mylar
4.8.11 – 5.7.11 www.222shelbystreet.com