OPENING RECEPTION

Friday, December 6, 7-9 pm

ARTIST STATEMENT

With these paintings, I wanted to convey the power and strangeness of the natural world through abstraction. Forces within nature do not sit in judgement. They simply exist. The title of this show, Without Fear or Favor, promises a gain in celebrating the impartiality of nature. I believe there is a persistent, totemic quality outside the world of human affairs that overwhelms the ego and begs for visual exploration through painting. I am seeking not to mimic the forms of that world, but the encounter: the strange, totemic, seductive, and mysterious. These paintings can partly be read as odes, but mostly they are a practice—of putting on the mantle, shifting my point of view with each painting, a ritual found in changing from enraptured observer to willing participant.

ARTIST BIO

Kelly Queener is originally from Indianapolis, Indiana. She moved to Virginia to attend Hollins University, then received her MFA in Painting from UNCG, in Greensboro. In 2008, she moved to Richmond to continue her painting practice and explore the local music scene. In 2015, she was awarded the VMFA Professional Artist’s Fellowship for her paintings. She has been shown at the VMFA as well as the VMOCA and several regional galleries, including the Eric Schindler Gallery. In 2020, she began a vintage clothing and decor business. Currently, she continues this business while painting and playing music in Richmond.

Exhibition runs December 6 - 28, 2024