Being curious, on Thursday, 6th June, I went to
the opening of Ben Kelly’s recent exhibition: The Art Of Seeing. As Dr Rina Arya , author of Francis Bacon:
Painting In A Godless World and the editor of Contemplations Of The Spiritual
In Art, writes in the foreword to the catalogue: ‘Ben Kelly’s expressive
paintings are archetypally Northern.’
Indeed, they explore landmarks of Manchester and Cheshire ‘meanderings
in and around landscape’, both urban and rural: football crowds and parks,
shopping trips and walks in the countryside.
A favourite of mine, Seven Trees In Wincle, records a lone
guy, in harmony with nature, a 21st Century Thoreau (my reading,
maybe not Ben’s intention at all) someone disillusioned with the trappings of
modern life, who has retreated to the natural world. I was also captivated by
Strike A Pose: The Clean Up, an exploration of the looting of Manchester City
Centre which took place in the summer, 2011.
However, whatever the subject matter of Ben’s paintings, one thing that truly
struck me about the work, was the light; it is arresting. He uses a technique referred to as
‘fracturing,’ which is a method of layering the paint.
For me, it is this ‘fracturing’ that makes the work unique;
it is Ben’s ‘Way Of Seeing’ the world, and to cultivate a unique ‘Way Of Seeing,’
is what all artists, of course I include writers here, should aspire to.
I very much enjoyed the exhibition, nice one. And the champagne wasn’t bad either! :-)
