Gatya Kelly

I can almost smell it… I want to touch it… I want to eat it…

This work explores our intrinsic responses to sensual visual imagery.

Engagement arises from the emotions and the heart – it is immediate, uncensored, not conceptual – real. These still life paintings are drawn from those personal and universal objects in my immediate environment that conjure emotions such as desire and passion, or suggest a mysterious narrative; pomegranates, cherries, figs, a fallen flower or a beguiling shadow. I look for balance, colour and stillness in the drama.

The paintings intend to trigger and delight our primitive senses of touch, taste and smell. They are solid and embodied. The scale of objects is often exaggerated to share a minutely observed personal viewpoint – through magnification, large objects expose their delicacy and small things such as petals and seeds reveal their quality of transparent beauty.

Enquire