Kirk Fanelly‘s recent, vibrant works are constructed with inlaid cut paper, offering a glimpse at the Western experience through the artist’s intricate process. This mode of creation is a fairly recent development for the artist, who previously mixed the surreal and the everyday in oil paintings.
“I wouldn’t categorize it as ‘collage’ because the tension isn’t in disparate materials or imagery, but rather in the flatness and hard edges of the same material—like many painting styles,” the artist said, in an interview with HappeningsCLT. “I’d just say I’m a painter working mostly with paper for now. The current work evolved from some earlier stenciled and masked painted surfaces. There’s still some narrative that was the impetus for much of my early work. There are also some new pieces that appear abstract, but are still dependent on observation and physical objects. I find myself increasingly reflecting how wonderfully bizarre the natural world is rather than just mining the human narrative.”
The artist has been part of recent shows at Greenhill Center for NC Art and Lee Hansley Gallery. The artist is currently based in Charlotte, N.C.
