TAWA at 45
The Exhibition
Thomas Kelly
Falling Off the Table
acrylic on canvas, 2008; 40″h x 30″w
Thomas Kelly (www.thomaskellyart) is an award-winning, New Jersey-based painter. Widely collected, his work has a signature style, which has its roots in Expressionism. His colorful, narrative, acrylic paintings on canvas often create a dialogue with the viewer. His deceptively simplistic paintings are both critically acclaimed and very approachable by everyday viewers. More than 350 of Kelly’s original paintings have been collected. Kelly has exhibited in New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, and Bethlehem, PA. His work is in private and public collections in the US, Europe, and Asia.
“My paintings are of common scenes, everyday occurrences in which people struggle to establish and maintain relationships. It is these universal emotions and situations which most interest me. The paintings are acrylic on canvas, which lends itself to the way I work. The idea begins from a tiny sketch. That sketch will have the emotional feeling or gesture that first intrigued me. I encourage viewers to participate in the narrative by placing themselves inside my scenes and characters. When asked by viewers if their interpretation is the true one, I say, ‘The paintings must stand on their own.’ I don’t tell them that their stories often rival my own. I am not and do not wish to be, the artist with the best technical skill, recreating realism that wows the masses. I wish to be the one who connects well with the way people feel. I wish to have the viewer say about themselves, when they see my art, ‘This is about me, this is about my life.’ This is how I wish to connect. The universal feelings we all have is what I am trying to portray.”