Jay Kelly Greg Parker
Kempner Fine Art
Jim Kempner Fine Art
J ay K e l l y
Working with a minimalist sensibility, Jay Kelly celebrates clean and fundamental abstract forms. His drawing process is intimately related to his sculpture, wherein the dominance of line reflects an intuitive meandering of the mind. The new drawings, made with graphite and colored pencil on vellum, are hazy and delicate abstractions. Each measuring 5 x 5”, they consist of linear arrangements that appear to float in space. A combination of wire, nickel silver, wood, gesso, acrylic and Japanese paper, his small-scale sculptures are no larger than 12” tall. The textures vary from woven wire, spiky protrusions, diaphanous Japanese paper nets and smooth, non-referential wooden forms. They are aged with a patina, which reflects Kelly’s love of weathered surfaces. Loosely inspired by Modernist design, Kelly’s sculptures are recognized for their whimsicality and enigmatic origins. They harness a lightness of form, and an acute sense of proportion and color. Jay Kelly is a self-taught artist from Pasadena, California. He began his career as a photorealist painter, shifting his focus to pure abstraction in the late 1990s. 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.
Photography by Jay Kelly
BORN 1961 Pasadena, California EDUCATION 1983 B.A. Syracuse University SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2016 Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY (Group Show) 2015 Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY (Group Show) 2014 University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, ME Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY 2013 Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago, IL 2011 Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY (Group show) 2010 Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago, IL 2009 The Contemporary Museum Honolulu, Honolulu, HI (Group show) Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Esteban Vicente, Segovia, Spain (Group show) Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art, Sarasota, FL (Group show) 2008 Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago, IL Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art, Sarasota, FL (Group show) 2007 William Shearburn Gallery, St. Louis, MO Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY Gallery at Lincoln Center, New York, NY Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT (Group show) Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA (Group show) 2006 Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago, IL Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art, Sarasota, FL (Group show) Zero Station, Portland, ME (Group show) 2005 Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY 2004 Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago, IL Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY
2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997
Graystone, San Francisco, CA Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY Graystone, San Francisco, CA Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art, Sarasota, FL (Group show) Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY "Abstract Art in the New Century", University of Wisconsin at Whitewater (Group show) Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY Graystone, San Francisco, CA Graystone, San Francisco, CA Kips Bay Designer Showhouse, New York, NY (Group show) Graystone, San Francisco, CA Christine Adapon Fine Art, Manila, Philippines
COLLECTIONS The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY The British Museum, London, England Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, NY San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA The Contemporary Museum Honolulu, Honolulu, HI Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR Yale University Art Museum, New Haven, CT Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ JP Morgan Chase, New York, NY Fidelity Investments, New York, NY Werner Kramarsky, New York, NY Harvey Shipley Miller, New York, NY Edward Albee, New York, NY
Jay Kelly Untitled #427, 2016. Metal. 7 x 9 x 4�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #414, 2015. Metal. 9 x 3 1/2 x 3 1/2�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #428, 2016. Metal, Japanese paper, archival glue. 6 3/4 x 4 x 3 1/4�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #430, 2016. Metal, Japanese paper, archival glue, wood, gesso, acrylic. 4 1/2 x 8 x 2 1/2�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #431, 2016. Metal, wood, gesso, acrylic. 4 x 4 x 3�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #432, 2016. Wood, gesso, acrylic. 4 x 3 x 1 3/4�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #409, 2015. wood, gesso, acrylic. 10 1/4 x 4 x 2”. Untitled #426, 2016. Metal. 9 3/4 x 3 3/4 x 2”.
Jay Kelly Untitled #402, 2015. Metal. 6 x 4 x 3 1/2”.
Untitled #422, 2016. Wood, gesso. 6 1/2 x 3 x 1 1/2”.
Jay Kelly Untitled #415, 2015. Metal. 6 1/2 x 3 x 2 3/4�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #425, 2016. Metal, wood, gesso, acrylic. 8 x 5 1/2 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #419, 2015. Metal, wood, gesso, acrylic. 10 1/2 x 2 1/4 x 1 3/4�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #416, 2015. Metal. 6 1/2 x 5 1/4 x 2 3/4�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #421, 2016. Metal. 4 x 5 x 4 3/4”. Untitled #408, 2015. Metal, wood, gesso, acrylic. 5 x 4 x 2 1/4”.
Jay Kelly Untitled #423, 2016. Metal. 6 x 5 x 3”. Untitled #413, 2015. Metal. 4 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 2 1/4”.
Jay Kelly Untitled #398, 2015. Metal. 5 3/4 x 2 x 1 1/2�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #412, 2015. Wood, gesso. 7 1/4 x 4 1/4 x 2”. Untitled #390, 2015. Metal, wood, gesso, acrylic. 5 3/4 x 3 x 2 1/4”.
Jay Kelly Untitled #429, 2016. Metal. 5 3/4 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/4�. Untitled #1890, 2016. Colored pencil on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #1893, 2016. Graphite on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #1896, 2016. Graphite on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #1886, 2016. Colored pencil on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #1892, 2016. Colored pencil on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #1888, 2016. Graphite on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #1885, 2016. Colored pencil on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #1894, 2016. Graphite on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #1895, 2016. Graphite on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #1897, 2016. Graphite on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #1898, 2016. Graphite on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #1887, 2016. Colored pencil on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
Jay Kelly Untitled #1891, 2016. Colored pencil on Vellum. 5 x 5�.
G r e g Pa r k e r Structured around systematic order, thought, and sensation, Greg Parker’s paintings have the appearance of visual depth and atmosphere while using almost no paint. Rooted in the traditions of Minimalism and Modernist abstraction, Parker works with associative elements such as a square or grid with measurable boundaries. Often looking like metal, wood or another material, the end result is a subdued, reflective surface that is solid in nature, with shifting shapes in a constant state of flux. In addition to a monumental 5 x 9’ painting from 2007, the exhibition features several of the artist’s new paintings that range in size from, 12 x 12 x ½” to 20 x 40 x ¾”.
ARTIST STATEMENT The material process of my work begins with the wood panel. A material that is usually associated with three-dimensional construction. The paintings have a sense of being objects: as if they are built as much as they are painted. The rigid form allows me to cover the panel with up to twenty layers of gesso, sand and compress the paint materials onto the surface without flexing. There are layers of paint applied in strategies; design systems that are applied in progressive steps. Each of these strategies adds to, obscures or alters the previous layers but all are affecting the final surface. Even though the layers are many, the physical depth of the paint would have to be measure in microns. There are many ambiguities that I encourage. The appearance of visual depth and atmosphere while using almost no paint; a surface that in many ways does not resemble paint at all, often looking more like metal, wood or another material; a surface that is solid but its reflective nature causes to it shape shift, its recognition in a constant state of flux; a strong physical presence but coupled with great uncertainty. I work with systems of rational meaning: elements that have measurable boundaries, predictable conclusions and familiarity. Their simplicity and meaningfulness is indisputable. But there is also a simultaneous condition of uncertainty, conscious doubt and deliberate questioning that threatens order and probability. I am interested in the overlap of science and art. I believe that philosophy can begin where physics ends, and physics can begin where philosophy ends. And even though these disciplines are frequently seen at odds with each other, observable proof vs. meta-physical truth, I think they often occupy the space. That simultaneity is the framework I use in my work. I think we all exist with a mixture of passionate certainty while understanding that it could unravel at any moment. We also understand things that can’t be explained by deduction. We are comfortable knowing something we can’t prove. My work is a compression of physical materials but also the grouping of thought and sensation. I use a range of associative elements that triggers recognition and confusion, a physical object that refuses to stabilize its identity. - Greg Parker, 2016
Photography by Luc Demers
BORN 1952
SOLO EXHIBITIONS Island Falls, ME
EDUCATION 1974 1976
University of Southern Maine, BFA Cranbrook Academy of Art, MFA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2016 2008 2007 2006 2004 2002 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1996 1995 1994 1993
Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY Select Artists, Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA Selected Group Exhibition, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY Graphite, June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, ME Graphite, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME Winter Show, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY Sublime Geometry, The Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME June Fitzpatrick Gallery @ MECA, Portland, ME The Portland Show, Greenhut Gallery, Portland, ME 50th Anniversary Exhibition, The Center for Maine Contemporary Art Select Invitational, Rockport, ME System/Symptom, Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA Minimalenialism, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York Department of State, Santiago, Chile Side Bar, jennjoygallery, San Francisco, CA 15 New York Artists, BGH Gallery, Santa Monica, CA Significant Others, Jim Kempner Fine Art, NY The DeCordova Annual, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA Depth and Illusion, Gallery NAGA, Boston, MA, Varieties of Abstract Space Maine Light Art in Embassies Program, USA After Dark, Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Rockport, ME Surfacing, jennjoygallery, San Francisco, CA The Eighth Triennial, Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, MA Individual Artists Fellowship Grantees, Maine Arts Commission, Augusta, ME Contemporary Collage, Frick Gallery, Belfast, ME Perspectives: A Sense of Place, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME The Luster of Graphite, Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME Night Light, Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME On the Edge: Forty Years of Maine Painting, Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Rockport, ME, Portland Museum of Art
2008
June Fitzpatrick Gallery @ MECA, Noa Warren and Greg Parker, Portland, ME 2007 Bannister Gallery of Art, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI 2006 Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY Bannister Gallery of Art, Providence, Rhode Island College, RI 2005 June Fitzpatrick, Works on Paper Gallery, Portland, ME Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY 2004 June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, ME 2003 Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY 2002 Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY 2001 June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, ME Richard Levy Galley, Albuquerque, NM Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA 2000 Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA 1999 Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, ME 1998 jennjoygallery, San Francisco, CA Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY 1997 Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA Between the Muse, Rockland, ME 1993 Gleason Fine Art, Portland, ME 1992 Dean Velentgas Gallery, Portland, ME 1990 Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN 1989 Dean Velentgas Gallery, Portland, ME COLLECTIONS Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME Farnsworth Museum of American Art, Rockland, ME University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME Sonesta Corporation, Boston, MA Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA Millennium Partners, Boston, MA The Boston Intercontinental Hotel, Boston, MA The British Museum, London, England Goldman Sachs, New York, NY Percent for Art Commission, Elementary School, Auburn, ME Over 500 paintings in private and corporate collections in North America and Europe
Greg Parker Untitled 2016.402, 2016. Oil, graphite, powdered pigment on gesso panel. 20 x 20 x 3/4�.
Greg Parker Untitled 2016.404, 2016. Oil, graphite, powdered pigment on gesso panel. 20 x 20 x 3/4�.
Greg Parker Untitled 2016.441, 2016. Oil, graphite, powdered pigment on gesso panel. 20 x 40 x 3/4�.
Greg Parker Untitled 2016.443, 2016. Oil, graphite, powdered pigment on gesso panel. 20 x 40 x 3/4�.
Greg Parker Untitled 2015.201, 2015. Oil, graphite, powdered pigment on gesso panel. 12 x 12 x 1/2�.
Greg Parker Untitled 2016.201, 2016. Oil, graphite, powdered pigment on gesso panel. 12 x 12 x 1/2�.
Greg Parker Untitled 2007.901a, 2007. Oil, pigment, powdered graphite on gesso panel. 60 x 108�.
Greg Parker Untitled 2016.202, 2016. Oil, graphite, powdered pigment on gesso panel. 12 x 12 x 1/2�. Untitled 2016.442, 2016. Oil, graphite, powdered pigment on gesso panel. 20 x 40 x 3/4�.
Greg Parker Untitled 2016.401, 2016. Oil, graphite, powdered pigment on gesso panel. 20 x 20 x 3/4�.
Greg Parker Untitled 2016.403, 2016. Oil, graphite, powdered pigment on gesso panel. 20 x 20 x 3/4�.
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.
For more information, please contact gallery director Dru Arstark, dru@jimkempner.com, or associate director Sarah Bielicky, sarah@jimkempner.com.
501 West 23rd Street New York, NY 10011 212-206-6872 info@jimkempner.com jimkempnerfineart.com
Jim Kempner Fine Art
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