David Kelley:
I See No Sea
June 6 - July 12, 2026
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David Kelley is a painter of impressions, aqueous dalliances with pigment and surface. Recent works recall asemic writing, a wordless form of mark-making that bares close resemblance to handwriting but is otherwise illegible. This pseudo-writing is intelligible as affect, its calligraphic fluidity rendering visible atmospheric force. Kelley’s brushwork simulates descriptive language, defining evanescent contours, the temporal dissipation of our coastal light. They share the palette and line work of late DeKooning, but made more personal—a palimpsest, a tender note delivered with careful urgency. With a spare nod to J.M.W. Turner, Kelley’s recent works are expressive, imaginative landscapes plucked from the Houston ether.
Inspired by the lean affect of Turner’s Last Sketchbook, a facsimile edition, in book form, of his last known sketchbook, Kelley employs a similarly restrained approach to the production of these recent works. Made on a table top in Kelley’s ground floor Houston studio, these paintings, defined by an accumulation of horizontal gesture, are called Waves. His deftly applied brushstrokes circumscribe the crest and troughs of a fragmented language in free play. His meditative application of pastel hues renders large gestures small, and makes space a rhythmic provocation, confusing fore and ground. And à la Turner, these are observational paintings that describe a meteorological intensity defined by a swirling blend of inarticulable chemical components, effects specific to our particular Gulf Coast coordinates.
David Kelley (b. Boston, MA) lives and works in Houston, Texas, having been a full-time faculty member of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for 35 years. The recipient of numerous awards for his work, he has studied extensively in Europe. Having exhibited mostly recently with Texas Gallery, Kelley has also shown with Victoria Munroe Gallery, Zoe Gallery, and Sampson Gallery at various locations in Boston, Massachusetts and New York City.
I See No Sea
June 6 - July 12, 2026
David Kelley is a painter of impressions, aqueous dalliances with pigment and surface. Recent works recall asemic writing, a wordless form of mark-making that bares close resemblance to handwriting but is otherwise illegible. This pseudo-writing is intelligible as affect, its calligraphic fluidity rendering visible atmospheric force. Kelley’s brushwork simulates descriptive language, defining evanescent contours, the temporal dissipation of our coastal light. They share the palette and line work of late DeKooning, but made more personal—a palimpsest, a tender note delivered with careful urgency. With a spare nod to J.M.W. Turner, Kelley’s recent works are expressive, imaginative landscapes plucked from the Houston ether.
Inspired by the lean affect of Turner’s Last Sketchbook, a facsimile edition, in book form, of his last known sketchbook, Kelley employs a similarly restrained approach to the production of these recent works. Made on a table top in Kelley’s ground floor Houston studio, these paintings, defined by an accumulation of horizontal gesture, are called Waves. His deftly applied brushstrokes circumscribe the crest and troughs of a fragmented language in free play. His meditative application of pastel hues renders large gestures small, and makes space a rhythmic provocation, confusing fore and ground. And à la Turner, these are observational paintings that describe a meteorological intensity defined by a swirling blend of inarticulable chemical components, effects specific to our particular Gulf Coast coordinates.
David Kelley (b. Boston, MA) lives and works in Houston, Texas, having been a full-time faculty member of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for 35 years. The recipient of numerous awards for his work, he has studied extensively in Europe. Having exhibited mostly recently with Texas Gallery, Kelley has also shown with Victoria Munroe Gallery, Zoe Gallery, and Sampson Gallery at various locations in Boston, Massachusetts and New York City.
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