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Artist Xavier Kelley's narrative paintings tell stories of human interaction and the experience of black and indigenous bodies, using various mediums, aesthetic iconographies of ancient culture, academia, sports, music, black culture, and art history. Informed by Afrofuturism and graffiti art, Kelley recontextualizes past histories through highly saturated, idealized figures and glyphs, blueprinting future possibilities and actualizations that have not previously been accessible to marginalized identities. Kelley pinpoints and animates the ambition of ascension. Through splintered narratives and vibrating lines that hint at a colorful language nearly within reach, Kelley creates his own ecosystem of an emergent future that might already exist but requires thoughtful excavation.
“Sports is also used in my practice as a metaphor for the ways marginalized groups must maneuver ‘athletically’ through society to achieve upward mobility. The wide-eyed BIPOC cartoon characters illustrate a juxtaposition of childlike curiosity through the medium of cartoon, while the subjects depict the anxieties and restricted autonomy of being Black/Indigenous in the contemporary climate of America and the World. Motifs such as the pencil and pyramid represent making a mark on the world through the act of creation. Animals represent childhood fascination in my work, and a longing to connect more deeply with the natural world.” — Xavier Kelley
Xavier Kelley is a painter based in Seattle whose work featured on the cover of Elle Decor, exhibited widely in Seattle and New York, and is included in many private collections across the country.