Blue Gallery is pleased to announce Atomic Flowers and Parabolic Meaning, a solo exhibition culminating three years of work in the making by contemporary visual artist Kelly Porter. The gallery will hold an artist talk and opening reception on Thursday, September 30th, from 6 to 8pm, with the exhibition running through November 1st. The opening is free and open to the public, but as the gallery will be serving beverages, attendees will need to show proof of vaccination upon entry. Out of concern for our staff and visitors, we are unable to accommodate guests without proof of vaccination.
In this exhibition, 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.
