ABOUT JEFF KELLAR

​​​​​​​I use a mixture of resin, clay, and pigment to assemble blocks of color that position themselves in space. The colors are made up of many layers. I paint on thin aluminum composite panels that are held away from the wall. The panels are not so much a window on the world but a surface to hold illusion.

The paintings are often a response to the sculptures. Sometimes I show the edges of shapes with more or less space around them. When I get very close to the objects, there a fewer clues available to judge them as objects in space, but the view is more intimate.

The paintings with repeated shapes and lines allow the suggestion of movement and rhythm as well as objects in relation to space. I think that time is a spatial and rhythmic concept and that by capturing a moment it’s possible to heighten the awareness of being alive.

I’m working with forms and imagery pared down to the minimum, so everything is important, including texture. It’s difficult to see in photographs, but the color in my paintings is not flat. I’m trying to achieve surfaces that have depth, warmth, and intensity. The surfaces have layers that come together in seams or an incised line that is filled with another color. The depiction of space, the materials, colors, and textures connect the paintings to the methods I use in my sculpture.