kelly a. mueller : elemental

'FIRST WEDNESDAY' OPENING: 3/7, 7 - 9 P.M.
ARTICULATE ARTIST TALK: SUNDAY, 3/11 AT 4 P.M.

With Kelly A. Mueller's latest exhibition at BRG, Elemental, the New Orleans based artist continues to explore, as she puts it, "the tenuous space between natural law and the high-order organization and accompanying habit of human existence." Drawing inspiration from both systems and behaviors found in nature, she builds and paints narrative collages.

"Mindful of my own distraction as I work, I allow bits of news from the local paper to show through the surface, and record bits of “projected chatter”: email snippets, articles, podcast headlines, Facebook posts, allowing them to weave in and out of the surrounding imagery."

Mueller looks to capture a momentary world, frozen and fleeting with each quilt she creates. With each solidified in its conflict, the quilt itself is a physical companion to an individual's thousand nightly passages into and out of consciousness. Using a projector, she traps text, imagery, instructional manuals, and maps, found patterns and momentary realizations in layers of acrylic and charcoal. As Mueller explains, "I enjoy getting lost in the maze of light and shadow, sometimes giving myself over to the ease of written directions, at other times allowing myself the absorption of pulling out and fretting over a singular form or object, working over it with line and color until it exists perfectly, individually, lost among the masses."

A BRG artist member since 2011, Mueller currently serves as the Art Department Chair for Lusher Charter High School in New Orleans, LA. Her work has been shown across the United States, especially throughout the Midwest. She has also been invited to give numerous lectures throughout the nation including engagements at The Philadelphia Art Hotel, Millsaps College (Jackson, MS) and Michigan State University.

This exhibition is presented alongside the latest works from Nonney Oddlokken and Jacqueline Dee Parker. It will be open to the public, free of charge, during normal gallery hours (12 - 6 p.m.) March 4 - 29, 2018.