Robert Kelly
Robert Kelly (American, born 1956), Tropos Rouge XI, 2010, oil and mixed media on panel, 22 x 17 in. Schwartz Art Collection, Harvard Business School, 2013.1.
Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Robert Kelly studied at Harvard (AB 1978) and worked as a photographer for Polaroid. His collaged abstractions often incorporate materials from his worldwide travels. As he stated in an interview, “Travel, besides being a joy in and of itself, brings one in touch with the unfamiliar, rejuvenates the eye, and frees one to search for what moves oneself outside the reach of the habitual. This is where I have educated myself in art history having visited countless museums, churches, monasteries, galleries, and art fairs throughout the world, and been inspired and drawn to the tangible residue of history found in old world cultures.”