Location: United States
Ben Kelley is an experienced artist from the United States with national exposure. After wanting to become an artist when he was a kid, Kelley eventually dedicated himself to a painting practice focusing on themes of nature and the human form. Working in mainly oil and acrylics, Kelley experiments between figurative and abstract work and uses different gestural techniques on canvas, from traditional brush strokes and palette knifes to paint drips and splatters.
Mixed media painting combining oil paint, oil painting medium, gesso and paper collage to tell a story about dreams, loss and hope. Acrylic gesso was first applied to the blank stretched canvas to create a textural underpainting. On top of this, printed paper was ripped and placed in order to form the poetic text that can be seen throughout the painting. Read from left to right, the text reads as follows:
“Welcome in the morning light, it creeps in and steals your dreams. Softly embracing the comfort inside, living the lies that dreams conceive.
Welcome in the fresh delight, what was built has washed away. Anxiety comes to reclaim its prize, cold expressions carried by sun rays.
Welcome in a guilt worth repeating, that life cannot be lived in dreams. Crimson eyes can dry completely, there's more to life than it seems.
Welcome in the morning light, it creeps in and steals your dreams. An empty heart filled with time. No one said this would be easy."
Abstract painting of sunflowers on a stretched gallery wrapped canvas with painted sides. A variety of tools were used to create this piece, ranging from rags and brush work to palette knives and sticks - the latter used to drip and fling gray, white and black paint to resemble the structure of a field. The yellow sunflowers were created using a palette knife, resulting in rich texture, while the yellow and light blue paints in the background were flung to the canvas using a spatula. The final result creates a lively and bright scene that draws attention and inspires interest.
Mixed media painting of a tree upon a 2-inch thick gallery-wrapped canvas with painted sides. Multiple tools including brushes, rags and palette knives were used to create this painting, resulting in texture and interest throughout the piece. Sitting upon an oil-based painted underlay of a tree, branches and roots, the leaves of the tree were created with splatters, flings and drips of acrylic and household paints, resulting in a lively and colorful scene - one that is sure to capture the attention of its viewers.
“A Story”
“Sunflowers”
“Orange Burst”
