AN ARTIST’S EXPANDING VISION
© 2018 Photo by Don Schaefer
Paul Kelly debuts his work in a solo exhibit “Structure Series” at Galatea Fine Art, Boston, MA, January 2018
Provincetown, MA. Paul Kelly stands in his intimate and well-planned Brewster Street studio on a particularly cold December afternoon. He exudes excitement about where he finds his artistic life. There is an undeniable feel of P Town art history surrounding us. Across from a garden courtyard, where the studio sits, is an incredible New England historic home; it was once the home of the impressionist colorist and teacher, Henry Hensche (1899-1992), a protégé and successor to Charles Hawthorne who founded the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899. The studio is brightly lit, upright paintings line shelves, works in progress sit on easels and the elements of design are everywhere: sketch books, watercolor treatments, tissue paper overlays on canvases already developed. Like most Provincetown artists Paul Kelly is influenced by the history of the place, the New England architecture, and work of diverse artists from Edward Hopper to Richard Diebenkorn to Nicholas DeStael.
© 2018 Photo by Don Schaefer
© 2018 Photo by Don Schaefer
Paul’s career as an architect and planner, specializing in coastal homes from Mount Desert, ME, to Block Island, RI, has informed a lifelong love of making art. Paul has always been drawn to the buildings and townscapes of Provincetown’s historic fishing village and the art colony’s environs. He notices the quirky nature of Provincetown’s streets, the ups and downs, and vistas of the bay. Like many artists Kelly was searching for the next direction of his art. Paul talks about the experience of realizing that – as a result of working every day for several years with the goal of finding his next language.
© 2018 Photo by Don Schaefer
Paul pushed his work and broke through to a new multiple-viewpoint style. He added more information through aerial images, drone shots, Google Earth, even under water perspectives. His new work retains the architectural qualities of control, reduction and simplification that are the foundation of his style. A fresh intensity seems to suggest that Paul Kelly will have a lot of paintings in him in the next few years.
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