mark moore gallery is pleased to present its third exhibitions for seattle-based artist ken kelly and san francisco-based artist tomas nakada, from march 1 - 29, 1997.
both of these accomplished artists approach abstraction from highly distinctive points of view, and the juxtaposition of these two artist’s works will elucidate many elements of discussion around abstraction in late 20th century american contemporary art.
ken kelly has been active for over a decade in the development of his abstractions, which began as neo-expressionist, pop-influenced abstraction, and have, over the last few years, developed into a highly personal architectonic/organic signature.
kelly’s work was the subject of an exhibition at the henry art gallery in 1989, and his work is in the collections of the seattle art museum and the tacoma art museum in washington state, and the portland museum of art in oregon.
tomas nakada, whose original venture into art-making began as a sculptor, has come to the fore as a painter of the unseen organic, but unlike kelly, nakada’s intimate-scaled, oil and wax works are a more literal interpretation of the abstract system of human biology.
nakada’s work was the subject of one-person exhibitions at the newport harbor art museum in 1993 , and the richmond art center in richmond, california in 1995; examples of his work are in the collections of the oakland museum of art and the orange county museum of art.