Review

"Musical Epigenome", Oil Stick, Conte Crayon, Graphite and Ink on Paper.

Kelly Porter
New Works

10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Blue Gallery
118 Southwest Boulevard
Kansas City, MO
816.527.0823

Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
Runs through: Oct. 31.

Gallery site: http://www.bluegalleryonline.com

Usually, to say that an artist produces wallpaper is a fairly grievous insult. It doesn't just imply that the artist's work is forgettable. It comes right out and  says that in so many words.

Kelly Porter really does design wallpaper, for her hand-printed Porter Teleo line. But she also combines drawing, painting and printmaking techniques to produce striking  mixed-media artwork, full of bold visuals and creative negative space. That visual style, which in 2004 made Porter one of Southwest Art magazine's top 21 young artists nationally, can be seen this month at Blue Gallery in the Crossroads.

(It should be duly noted, too, that the wallcovering she designs isn't the stereotypically bland sort. It's an elegant art form in and of itself.)

Much of Porter's new work is influenced by classical and jazz music ... or, perhaps more precisely, by the moments of silence contained within the performance of jazz and classical music.

There's an obvious correlation: Music without rests and small breaks might flow beautifully, but it won't have much of a punch. In short, it's aural wallpaper, the sort of ambient sound that makes no real impression on a listener. When notes and phrases have room to play against those small silences, though, they are the stronger and more memorable for it.

Musical Epigenome, today's featured piece, gets its power not only from the areas of deep red, but from a plentiful supply of that dynamic negative space -- not only in the open expanse which takes up much of the surface, but also in the stylized white keys and rough circles which lend the work its loose, jazzy feel. Other pieces, some of them incorporating floral imagery, curve and flow in more classical rhythms. 

But whether the overall effect is hot or cool, soothing or stimulating, Porter's work will never be in any danger of blending into the walls.

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