Lightning Path

Kelly’s recent sculptural works are inspired by the Glenade valley in North Leitrim and specifically two fading zigzagged paths that climb the sheer stony faces of the valley’s sides to encounter the unseen levels above. Once the routes of wheel-less carts bearing turf, they are now, for Kelly, gateways to the unpeopled upper lands, of dark lake waters and heather-beds, the spaces readily populated by the imagination.

In connecting the works to this narrow belt of the Glenade valley Kelly has relied on a form of dreaming that he uses to structure the various objects and assemblages in the exhibition. As the artist states: ‘Far from the everyday, that might be processing what has occurred in waking life, or scenes that might be readily interpreted by an analyst, there occasionally comes seeming visions of another parallel world. They have a distinct tone and flavour, and they relate to others of the same kind.’

Working primarily in cast and fabricated metals Kelly distils these dreams through a series of structures that imagine vast ruined or abandoned architectural spaces, cities, rock-cut temples and shrine-like structures. In their time of creation, the focus of the works developed while on residency at the Centre, coalesce these dream spaces which are overlaid onto the physical topology of the Glenade valley.

Curated by Sean O'Reilly