Yesterday Ellsworth Kelly, a brilliant painter whose monochrome canvases changed the course of art history, died at his home in Spencertown, New York. He was 92 years old. A prolific painter, drawer, printmaker, and sculptor, Kelly was best known for his enormous shaped, multi-panel pieces that incorporated elements from the natural world. �My work has always been about vision, the process of seeing,� he said. �Each work of art is a fragment of a larger context.” He was interested not so much in ruminating on one perception as in moving from one to the other. “I�ve always been
interested in things that I see that don�t make sense out of context,
that lead you into something else.� To celebrate his life and work, I’ve gathered some video interviews.
[Image at top: Ellsworth Kelly’s 1996 retrospective at the Guggenheim was a major influence for me as an artist.]
Artist Ellsworth Kelly talks with curator Stephanie Barron about “Ellsworth Kelly: Prints and Paintings,” a LACMA exhibition that was on view through April 22, 2012.
Ellsworth Kelly participated in MoMA’s Artist Oral History Initiative. In this excerpt, he talks with painting curator Ann Temkin about color, painting titles, and more.
Agnes Gund, president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), visits Ellsworth Kelly’s cavernous Spencertown studio, where they talk about art, life, their friendship and the colors and energy of New York. (Via New York States of Mind.)
Artists’ Perspectives: Ellsworth Kelly on his painting Blue Panel (via Metropolitan Museum).
Related posts:
The long haul: Ellsworth Kelly
Charline von Heyl takes on Ellsworth Kelly at the Worcester Art Museum
Ellsworth Kelly: Paint for the future, not the market
Painting Miami green
Ellsworth Kelly film arrives in Boston
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