Luscious Exhibition – Tweed Regional Gallery

Luscious
Tweed Regional Gallery Murwillumbah
Friday 15 January to Sunday 28 February 2016

Luscious is a collection of new work by Gatya Kelly – dramatic chiaroscuro still life paintings which explore our primitive sensual responses to succulent visual imagery.

Through an almost alchemical distillation of strong light and contained composition, the paintings illuminate the delicate and sometimes erotic nature of the ordinary to create their own calm, mysterious narrative.

Exotic fruit and flowers such as pomegranates, figs, cherries, gardenias and magnolias are married with dry native foliage and decorative vessels. The scale of objects is exaggerated to reflect Gatya’s personal, minutely-observed viewpoint so that small things such as petals and seeds are magnified to reveal their jewel-like qualities of transparent and reflective beauty.

These are dark paintings that are full of light.

Gatya Kelly
Magnolia Vanitas 2015
oil on linen
61 x 91cm