Artist Jeff Kellar will expand art enthusiasts' horizons?literally?with his latest exhibit at Bowdoin.
Kellar will present a lecture titled "Drawing Space" on Tuesday, September 23, at the College. The Bowdoin Museum of Art hosted Kellar in 1982 for its Maine Artists Invitational. Currently, he has an art show on exhibit at Icon Contemporary Art on Mason Street for the sixth time since 2002.
"His show was the real catalyst for the talk," A. LeRoy Gleason Professor of Art Mark Wethli said. "Kellar is one of Maine's most respected artists, and we were overdue to introduce him to our students,"
An artist's work in a lecture often depends upon slides and reproductions. Kellar's show is "a great opportunity because his actual work is available," Wethli said. "Many artists prefer their actual work to reproductions, but with Kellar's work it's especially important to see it in person. There is a certain physicality that you only appreciate in front of the real work."
Kellar is attributed with innovative techniques that make art viewers aware of space.
"The works are all about space," Kellar said.
Concentration on space has been a constant throughout his career.
The meticulous nature of each piece seems almost mathematical or architectural. This comes as a natural segue for an artist who has worked predominantly as a sculptor. If specific attention were not paid to the "canvas," Kellar's art would be akin to other paintings. However, all but one of the canvases are thin aluminum panels. The three-dimensional object subtly affects the viewing of the two-dimensional image.
"I started out as a filmmaker, working in animated film," Kellar said. "In a way, whether you are in a darkened theater, a gallery, or a home, a two-dimensional screen becomes three-dimensional. My interest in that has stayed constant my whole career."
Moving around the works is an essential part of viewing Kellar's art.
"You have to move around the space to the front and sides and back of the room because the paintings are physical objects more than representations" Wethli said.
"I love museums for the huge spaces you go into," Kellar said. "Dotted about there are objects. I love that there's this space with objects dotted around. Go over to them and suddenly you're in that world."
"If the viewer feels more conscious of his own two feet then I feel successful," he added. "I want the viewer slipping back and forth between two meanings that can come with being farther from the painting as opposed to close to the painting. I want the viewer to key into their own self conscious perception and the feeling of being and being in space."
"Works of art generally begin at the frame and carry into the space inside," Wethli said. "Jeff's pieces begin at the frame and draw attention outward. This is a hallmark of minimalism and something that Jeff does very well. His pieces even incorporate receding planes, suggesting architectural imagery, but just hinting at them rather than taking them too far."
According to Wethli, a hallmark of modernism is that contemporary work talks to the whole room rather than to itself. Rather than moving inwards, it moves forward and out.
"So, why do I do it? The pleasure it gives me. I hope it gives this to the viewer, too," Kellar said.
Kellar's lecture is "Drawing Space," held in Beam Classroom at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 23. The lecture is free and open to the public.