ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

A former stand-up comedian and children’s author, Kelly casts a critical eye on contemporary life, exploring our fraught recent and current experiences. Through a troupe of discombobulated characters and tones evoking the Australian landscape, Kelly aims to draw the viewer into a surreal visual world of struggle and fragmentation. A skeletal yet visceral portrait visualises the cognitive crunch that many of us have faced, especially in periods of isolation where the fragility of mental health comes into focus. The rectangular television-style faces in ‘Asylum’, adorned with a single omniscient eye, further hints at the psychological incarceration of self-isolation.

Kelly questions if there was ever any ‘order’ to life, pondering perceptions of normality. Is anything really ‘wrong’ or is it just our flawed expectations? Do we not exist on a continuum, treading an evolutionary path riddled with hurdles? What is order? What is disorder? Kelly does not propose an acceptance of disaster, but rather a contemplation of how we have the potential to shape our road into the future; to create our own ‘order’.

Solo Exhibitions

2021 “Ned Kelly Series” Brenda Colahan Fine Art, Sydney, NSW
2021 “Stamps” 19 Karen Contemporary Artspace, Mermaid Beach, QLD
2021 “Wallumatta White Kid” The Wellington Gallery, Waterloo, NSW
2021 Pop Up Show, Traffic Jam Galleries, Neutral Bay, NSW
2017 – 2020 “The Forest Art Show”, Forest Art Studio, Mullumbimby, NSW
“Forest Art”, Forest Art Studio, Mullumbimby, NSW
“The Forest Comes Alive”, Forest Art Studio, Mullumbimby, NSW
“Enter The Bower”, Forest Art Studio, Mullumbimby, NSW
“Flesh and Bone Experiment”, Forest Art Studio, Mullumbimby, NSW

Group Exhibitions

2020 “Flight To Light”, The Wellington Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2016 – 2017 “Byron Bay Arts Classic”, Byron Bay, NSW
2016 – 2017 “Ocean Shores Arts Expo Publications”, Ocean Shores, NSW

Press and Publications

2004 – 2014 Cartoonist published in The Big Issue, The Byron Shire Echo, The Byron Shire News, The Northern Star, Wingspan, Wellbeing, Nimbin Goodtimes.
2012 – 2015, The Perfect Poo, The Runt Who Said C#nt, The Ugly Dickling, I Wish I’d Never Been A Chicken, humorous adult and children’s book illustrations.