Venice - A New Vision
Venice. Use all the adjectives you can and still you will never capture its beauty, mystique and the miraculous colours that play upon this magical place.
I first saw Venice in 1951. Over many subsequent visits, I painted palace façades, gondolas and canals - much as other artists in past centuries. And I was delighted to do so.
In recent years the focus changed for me. I began to observe closely the lagoon upon which the city was built. Indirectly, I began to paint mirrored reflections in the canal waters.
As time past, this became altogether too tame a subject. Instead, I saw a distillation through the movement of waters agitated by the activity of the city. That movement, itself, became a part of the picture, if not the whole - a myriad of shapes and colours.
Undulations became swirls and swirls became vortexes. Boats, buildings and people blended and merged into a pattern of elusive colours.
I spent much time studying this water movement. The thought came to me - could Kandinsky or Miro have been influenced by a similar natural phenomenon?
Francis Kelly, May 1st, 2008
“In May this year I reached the age of 80. I reflected on my 59 years as an artist, but the new images are not a finality, but a new beginning. During the past decade, I have had several strokes, but I have not let them impede my painting. For many decades, Venice has been an inspiration to me. I evolved a different form of expression than the usual representation of that unique city. I began to observe water movements and reflections. Many of the new paintings on the site are a distillation of the varied patterns and abstract forms by the swirl of agitated waters.”