CAPRICCIO:1985 - 2010 KAY HARVEY

CAPRICCIO:1985 - 2010 KAY HARVEY

Over an extended period of time Kay’s art has been committed to this inward driven nature of painting. For the past few decades she has turned her ef-forts to investigate abstraction. Hers is a quest, a continuation of the tradition examining painting as an end in itself, an activity able to create and sustain an aesthetic experience by means of the artists vision and energy with only paint, paper, and canvas, free of any reliance on reproducing the observed world or, re-presenting an already lived experience. Kay’s art is unambigu-ously dedicated to the proposition of art as having a freestanding value beyond any other context.

Each of the pieces in the exhibition shows Kay’s bias for a shallow, de-clared space over an optical illusionistic one. Each work is asymmetric and gives the feeling of imperfection. In this way Kay’s process and aesthetic de-cisions about rightness and artistic truth are revealed, distinguishing what is true from that which is contrived in an attempt to appear seamless and flaw-less. Imperfection of this kind has a melancholy sense of tim that emphasizes impermanence and becomes conducive to a deeper contemplation. Open yourself to these pictures and you may find a secret waiting, not a secret exclusively about art, but a secret about life.

John Mulvany, curatorAfter India Diamond Series 25, 1995, 24” x 23”, oil on handmade paper

Above: Stencil Collage 30, 2007, 32'' x 32'', oil on Mylar

Right: Ecdysis Series, 1994, 41.5” x 30”, oil on paper

Following Pages: I Am Raw II, 1993, 65” x 120”, oil on canvas

Above: After Africa 06, 2004, 48” x 36”, oil on paper

Left: After Africa 05, 2004, 48” x 36”, oil on paper

“Kay Harvey has created a visual

language and painting vocabulary

with its own developed grammar

and syntax. As you explore her work

you begin to see her work through

and to the edges of an idea and

then see her pick up the thread in

another piece or body of work and

work again to the edges. There is

this consistent process woven into

30 years of work.”

John Mulvany, curator

Elements 02, 2000, 72” x 68”, oil on linen

Above Left:

Strocoto VII, (Vietnam), Works on Metal Series, 2007, 42.5” x 30.25”, oil & carborundum on aluminum sheet

Above Right: Strocoto VI, Works on Metal Series, 2007, 42.5” x 30.25”, oil & carborundum on aluminum sheet

Right: Strocoto II, Works on Metal Series, 2007, 42.5” x 30.25”, oil & carborundum on aluminum sheet

Water and Ice, 2010, 42.5” x 63”, oil on paper

Above Left: After India Diamond Series 30, 1993-1995, 20” x 14.5”, oil on handmade paper

Above Right: After India Diamond Series 31, 1993-1995, 20” x 14.5”, oil on handmade paper

Left: Pentimento Series 15, 2003, 65'' x 55'', oil on linen

Glissando, Baroque Series, 2010, 67.75” x 78”, oil on canvas

Provence 5, 1993, 14” x 11”, drawing Provence 6, 1993, 14” x 11”, drawing

Left: I Am Raw, 1994, 54” x 45”, oil on canvas

Right: Stencil Collage 12, 2006, 32” x 32”, oil on mylar

222 Shelby Street & 333 Montezuma Annex 4.8.11 – 5.7.11Santa Fe, New Mexico www.222shelbystreet.com

Cover Image: Stencil Collage 20, 2007, 32” x 32”, oil on mylar