IONE & MANN is thrilled to present 37 degrees / when the gods have left, Jonathan Kelly’s second solo exhibition with the gallery opening to coincide with the 6th edition of London Gallery Weekend.
With roots in minimalism and modernity, Kelly's approach to painting is driven by the notion of the absolute, the reduced, essential form. He recognises an affinity between abstraction, natural sciences and spirituality as ways to visualise the unseen, with the line as a fundamental element. In his most recent works, he is looking at painting also as a spatial entity, linked to the geometric underpinnings of the cosmos. In a nod to sacred geometry, he uses shaped canvases, mainly variations of crosses and circles with interlocking arcs, semicircles and waves formed by pulsating lines that feel discovered rather than painted, emerging from multiple layers of colour whose order seems indistinguishable.
Experiencing these paintings, we can’t help thinking of celestial bodies and a cosmic, universal order; Kelly’s luminous lines, unconfined by the shapes around them, seem to extend beyond the surfaces and even the gallery walls hinting at a vastness of time and space that is simultaneously wondrous and incomprehensible. And yet, these works feel familiar, intimate and very much part of our world here and now.
'Love, which moves the sun and the other stars' — Dante Alighieri
The exhibition will be accompanied by a text by Ben Street.
Jonathan Kelly (b. 1988, Hereford) is a British painter who lives and works in London. He is a graduate of Wimbledon College of Art (2011) and the Royal Academy Schools (2017).
