Please join Blue Gallery for a special meet and greet with painter Kelly Porter, and let her take you on a personalized tour of her current solo exhibition, ATOMIC FLOWERS and PARABOLIC MEANING
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In this exhibition, Kelly Porter introduces more than 25 large-scale oil on canvas paintings and nearly 20 monotypes and mixed media works on paper. The work is organic, transcendent and presciently timely, born out of Porter’s decades-long fascination with the basic, essential forms of pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses, their shapes imbued with an inherent beauty that reveals itself under a microscope. That some of the most deadly pathogens look like beautiful flowers at the microscopic level has long intrigued Porter, and inspired her to translate them into ‘atomic flowers.’ The energy of these living forms radiate a powerful vibrancy that is simultaneously constrained and explosive. In Porter’s body of work, atomic flowers are abundant, vivacious and powerful subjects that are brought forward through the medium of art.
Inspired by German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who argued that it is our faculty of judgement that enables us to experience beauty and we grasp those experiences as part of an ordered, natural world with purpose, Porter, too, finds the physical world to be unified, functional, compatible and purposeful. But she delves deeper into unseen worlds, unavailable to the naked eye, and through her exploration offers viewers perspective and appreciation for these natural forms that, indeed, are beautiful.
Porter’s immersion in her fine art deeply influences her commercial work as co-founder of Porter Teleo, a line of hand printed, hand painted wallcovering and fabric that is highly sought after by many of the world’s leading interior designers. The very focused approach she takes to her studio work often leads to new discoveries for her design work, resulting in wallpaper and textile patterns that are entirely new – the intersection where art meets design.
Porter is from Dallas, TX. She received her BFA from Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO in 1997, where she studied printmaking and philosophy. Upon receiving a full scholarship, she continued her education at the State University of New York in Buffalo, NY, where she received an MFA in 1999. Porter returned to Kansas City for a teaching position at the Kansas City Art Institute and began showing her work in galleries across the country. Kelly Porter’s work has been described by critics as “unique, composed and calming, with layered and labor intensive surfaces.”
Her honors include being named as one of the “21 Under 30 Top Artists to Watch” in 2004 by Southwest-Art Magazine, “Top Visual Artist” in 2006 by Kansas City Magazine, a “Merit Award for Best Product Design” from Interior Design Magazine, 2008, and a number of editorials in Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Vogue, Town and Country, Women’s Wear Daily, Veranda, Metropolitan Home, House Beautiful, Spaces Kansas City and IN Kansas City Magazine for her surface design work for Porter Teleo.
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***Due to COVID cases and the Mask Mandate in the Kansas City Metro, Masks are Required in the Gallery***
