Jake Kelly is fascinated by the simple act of making a line. The foundation of our shared human culture, from ancient cave paintings to 3D printing, can be traced fundamentally to lines.
Kelly calls upon the significance and history of lines as the foundation of his practice. His work manifests sculpturally through the use of humble materials such as string and wood. The use of democratized materials is significant as a statement for the accessibility of art for everyone. Kelly has appropriated these materials to develop his own intuitive technique, which, with a decade’s worth of refinement, has created intricate networks of string and paint. Kelly was initially trained as a painter. Over the years, he became increasingly preoccupied with the sculptural deconstruction of the painting until the works were no longer recognizable as paintings but as explorations of networks he refers to as constructions.