KELLY HOGAN

I love floating on my back, eyes closed, making shapes with my hands in the water, feeling my mind quieten. In this work, I re-explore my relationship with painting, inviting this sensation of freedom and flow into my painting process.

Cut from the same cloth, these pieces are inspired by the abstract soak-stain paintings of Helen Frankenthaler. Splashes of paint and gesso pool and soak into the raw canvas. The paint takes me where it wants, revealing waves and swells as it goes.

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For the Aqua Limina exhibition, Kelly Hogan marks a deliberate departure from her characteristic detail-focused and representational style. Moving toward a more abstract approach, Kelly explores her profound connection with the ocean and the inherent sense of freedom and flow it provides.

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​Drawing inspiration from the soak-stain colour fields of Helen Frankenthaler, these works treat the canvas as a raw fabric rather than a mere surface for observation. Kelly utilises intuitive mark-making to achieve a "flow-state" that mimics the physical sensation of swimming. In this process, splashes of paint and gesso are allowed to pool and soak into the raw canvas, revealing organic waves and swells as the medium dictates its own direction. By inviting this spontaneity, Kelly’s work becomes a visceral re-exploration of the relationship between the painter, the material, and the transformative power of water.

Artwork