For his first major exhibition since moving abroad, Anthony-Noël Kelly presents recent work, inspired by his tie in Ireland, and most recently, France where he currently lives and works. A series of photographic works recalls the ‘Vanitas’ paintings of the Dutch 17th Century, acting as a starting point from which to reflect and contemplate on the extraordinary dance that nature plays out all around us. The richly sensuous images reveal the wonder of the natural world yet, while the compositions are seductive and often mesmerising, they reveal the darker facet of beauty, evoking the passage of time, inevitable demise and decay.
Where?
The Muse Gallery, 269 Portobello Road, London,W11 1LR
When?
Friday 16th March – Sunday 1st April 2012. Thursday – Sunday, 12pm -6pm and by appointment.
How Much?
Free admission.
The organic material used i the ‘Vanitas’ works – including dying flowers, luscious fruit and richly coloured vegetables, as well as insects and reptiles – are, for the greater part, personally collected and found locally in the artists present home in the south-west of France. They are then elaborately ‘miss en scène’ in his studio to be caught on camera in a series of beautiful, enigmatic photographs. The photographs have not been manipulated or ‘photoshopped’ in any way.
This recent work reflects a career-long fascination with capturing for eternity moments of natural mutability, caught in the more permanent form of case, camera or the paintbrush and presented to the viewer in carefully ordered patterns. It is in the method of display that Kelly perhaps reflects the traditional notion of man’s effort to bring nature within his comprehension and control.
