Paul Kelly/ Mike Wright
Artist Reception Friday, July 22, 7-9pm
The Alden Gallery will present a two-person show of new work by Paul Kelly and Mike Wright, opening on Friday, July 22, 2022, at 423 Commercial St. The artists’ reception, with both artists attending, will be on opening day, Friday, July 22, from 7 to 9 p.m. The show will be on view through August 4.
Provincetown artist Paul Kelly has been showing at the Alden Gallery since 2010. “My paintings have evolved over the years from townscapes, using a basic understanding of architectural forms from my professional background as an architect and city planner, to imaginary forms and locations using unidentified vantage points,” Kelly says. “I look for impossible perspectives on well-known images to trigger my curiosity and re-examine our built environment. My approach and preparation for creating oil paintings include my love for notebook pencil sketching, quick watercolor studies, and weekly access to figure drawing to keep my eye in check. The art of Hopper, Thibaud, Diebenkorn, and Nicholas De Stael are significant influences.”
Mike Wright is a Provincetown artist who has for decades been creating sculpture made of painted wood she finds locally. This year she has created a series of small works (and one large one), inspired by the artwork of Juan Gris and Blanche Lazzell. “The point of using found wood is that, as debris, it seems unpromising,” Wright says. “But that lack of promise is also its appeal—the peeling paint, the color scrubbed by salty waves, sand, or human use. The main parameter is that the wood must be found in Provincetown. The second is not to paint that wood, because its patina is impossible to duplicate.” Wright has received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, an Artist’s Residency Award at the Vermont Studio Center, and has had solo shows of her work at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Cape Cod Museum of Art, and St. Botolph Club in Boston.
Northeast Harbor #25, by Paul Kelly, oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches
Still Life on a Chair (After Juan Gris), by Mike Wright, found painted wood, 48 x 22 x 22 inches