Michal Zaborowski "H2O" Opens

Thursday evening the gallery welcomed Michal Zaborowski from Poland for the opening of his exhibition "H2O". The artist arrived weary from his travels on Wednesday but was ready to greet the many guests who attended the event. Michal's work was met with enthusiasm by the crowd which included many from the Polish community. Michal Zaborowski, “H2O” will be on view through November 4, 2007.

Opening October 11

Polish painter Michal Zaborowski* will travel to Washington from his home in Warsaw, Poland to attend the opening of his solo exhibition of new works at the gallery. The reception will be held on Thursday, October 11 from 6 until 9 p.m. The exhibition is called "H20" and features paintings that depict human interaction with water.

Zaborowski's romantic impressionistic style has made him a gallery favorite. See images of select works on our website: http://www.nevinkellygallery.com/artists/zaborowski.htm, and please stop by Thursday evening to meet the artist in person. The show will run through November 4, 2007.

*pronounced MEE-how zah-bo-ROFE-ski

Above: Swimming Pool, 2007, oil on canvas, 32" x 59"

Peer Pressure Reviewed

Thanks to Lynne Venart for her intelligent review of the Peer Pressure exhibition on DCist today. The show is up through October 7. Above is an image of Pascual Sisto's 2 channel installation "No Strings Attached." Below is an image of one of Carrie Mallory's Untitled chromira prints. Read the review here.

Peer Pressure Opens

Congratulations to local artist Thom Flynn on his curatorial debut here at the gallery (and his inclusion in the A.U. alumni show at Katzen Arts Center last evening). Thom's show, featuring 4 of the the young artists he admires most, opened last night to an enthusiastic audience. "Peer Pressure" exhibits works by DC artists Carrie Mallory and Baby Martinez (a 2007 Sondheim Prize finalist) and by L.A. artists Sue Huang and Pascual Sisto, both graduates of UCLA's Media Arts program. One of Sisto's works consists of video loops showing a plastic garden chair being batted around by unseen forces. Mallory, Martinez and Huang each manipulated the environment around them for brief moments of special charm that survive only in the photograph record made available for the exhibit.

"Peer Pressure" will be on view through October 7th.

Last Chance for "Murmur"; "Peer Pressure" Opens 9/8

Mary Chiaramonte's "Murmur" series has been very well received. The show ends this Sunday, Sept. 2. Local artist Thom Flynn curates "Peer Pressure," a group show of video, photography and conceptual art by DC artists Baby Martinez and Carrie Mallory and LA artists Pascual Sisto and Sue Huang. The show opens with a reception on Saturday, September 8, from 6 to 9 p.m. It ends October 7. Email invitations going out soon. Please stop by to see these two shows.

All Eyes on Mary Chiaramonte’s “Murmur” Series

We are getting a great response to Mary Chiaramonte’s “Murmur” series and wanted to share some of the press with you from the Examiner and washingtonpost.com.

Thank you to Robin Tierney for highlighting the exhibition in Thursday’s Examiner and to Chris Klimek for his thoughtful article in the Art Life section of the Examiner’s Weekend edition.

And to Julia Beizer of washingtonpost.com who included the show in the Going Out Gurus blog.

The exhibition will be on view August 1- September 2, 2007.
Opening Reception Thursday, August 9 from 6 until 8 pm

Recent Work by Laurel Hausler

Another talented artist featured in the March “Women’s Work” exhibition, Laurel Hausler, brought some of her recent haunting and mysterious works to share with us that we now have on display in the gallery. In addition to a few of her paintings, we have two lithographs and four mixed media constructions which incorporate found objects and handmade dolls contained in wooden crates.

Top: Laurel Hausler, Blue Bottle Box, 2007, mixed media (found objects/handmade dolls), 12" x 15"
Bottom: Laurel Hausler, The Pilings, 2007, painted lithograph, 16" x 19"

Mary Chiaramonte "Murmur" Series Opens August 1

Show runs August 1 – September 2, 2007.
Opening Reception Thursday, August 9 from 6 until 8 pm.

Local painter, Mary Chiaramonte, will unveil a new series of paintings called “Murmur” at the Nevin Kelly Gallery. The show will run from August 1 through September 2. The gallery will host an opening reception with the artist on Thursday, August 9, from 6 until 8 o ‘clock p.m. Mary participated in the gallery’s “Women’s Work” exhibition earlier this year.

The artist explains the series this way: “I wanted to create a series that worked as a narrative as one progressed around the room. This past February, I learned that I would need to have surgery. The idea terrified me. I saw an immediate image of a theatrical stage with a wooden cutout of a dark cloud moving across the stage from right to left. As it reached the center, a bolt of lightning came down from the cloud, cymbals crashed, and the cloud retreated stage left. The vision made me realize that we all have things we must do but don't want to do. With perseverance, or luck, or grace, or some other way out, we can get past the things that hold us back or keep us down.”


“Murmur” shows the struggle to “overcome life’s difficulties and limitations using the image of individual attempts to escape from a box.” Each painting tells a different story. In the final painting, the box is empty: the individual has broken free. The title “Murmur” refers to the faint remnant one hears a moment in time after the original thunderclap.

above left: Mary Chiaramonte, “Nightshade”, 2007, mixed media on canvas, 22" x 17.5"
right: Mary Chiaramonte, “The Balance of the Good and the Bad”, 2007, mixed media on canvas, 22" x 17.5"

Photo Op

Gallery friend Lindsay Coates looked so perfect next to the work of Wesley Wheeler and Gretchen Feldman that we had to take a picture! To the left is Wesley Wheeler’s “Blondes 2” and on the right hangs Gretchen Feldman’s mixed media on paper piece. The gallery is featuring a variety of work this summer by local, national, and Polish artists.

Left: Wesley Wheeler, “Blondes 2”, 2006, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches
Right: Gretchen Feldman, “Untitled 8”, 2004, mixed media on paper, 29 x 37 inches (framed)

Art in Heat

This past Saturday, I attended the opening of a very fun exhibition at the Warehouse Gallery Complex, 1021 7th Street, NW, in Washington. "Art in Heat," curated by Washington artist Scott G. Brooks, showases the work of 18 artists that the show's website describes as "the best of DC's Outsider, Lowbrow and Pop Surrealist Artists." This show is not for everybody. But if your tastes and sense of humor are just a little twisted, you might enjoy it a lot. The show takes a look at the dark side of life, examining (often with great humor) subjects such as loneliness, sexual perversion, death, sadism, fear, and a general sense of the macabre.

There are very impressive (albeit disturbing) monumental works by Scott G. Brooks, Margaret Dowell and Ben Tolman. Other artists with a strong showings include Laurel Hausler (who participated in our Women's Work exhibition earlier this year), her husband and studio-mate John Lancaster, and newcomer Emily Greene Liddle, whose sadistic treatment of luscious fruits is both funny and oddly unsettling. Take in the associated events, such as live burlesque drawing classes and live music.

Top left: Laurel Hausler "Weeds." Lower right: Emily Greene Liddle "Pincushion"