A Painters Spirit

 My oils on canvas work have been described as expressive, chunky, abstract and gestural.  I became a process painter when the background of my work became more important than the subject I was painting.  Layering, scraping and adding hidden text are some of the signatures in my oils.  I have become an expressive mark maker with my large watercolors.   There is a relationship between one mark and another.  My intentional and harmonious marks combined with random marks create a landscape, an element of nature or an introspective piece.  There is a nod to frescoes of the past and graffiti of the present and often times an Asian sensibility.  The result mirrors life and can be elegant and calm or violent and aggressive.  Stages and challenges of life are depicted in sections, compartments, layers or the expression of a mark.   I am reminded that I am connected to the bigger world through my art.  My influences include Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, Willem DeKooning, Cecily Brown, Julie Mahretu, Ed Moses, the Impressionists, Chinese and Japanese paper works and many others.  
University of Georgia
Georgia State University BFA

Represented by The Gallery at Flat Rock                                       
Contact Suzanne Camarata Ball                                                         
828-698-7000                                                                                             
info@galleryflatrock.com    

Kelly G Chelena Fine Art
413 N Wall Street
Hendersonville, NC 28739
828-388-1311