Phil Kelly (1950-2010)
Palace Bar, Fleet Street
Oil on paper, 63.5 x 50.5cm (25 x 20")
Signed; inscribed on backing board with title

Provenance: With The Frederick Gallery, Dublin, label verso, where...

Phil Kelly (1950-2010)
Palace Bar, Fleet Street
Oil on paper, 63.5 x 50.5cm (25 x 20")
Signed; inscribed on backing board with title

Provenance: With The Frederick Gallery, Dublin, label verso, where purchased by the present owner

 

Phil Kelly was born in Dublin on 7 September 1950,and spent part of his childhood in Bray, County Wicklow, before the family relocated to Birmingham, England. He  went on to study Art and Special Education at the University of Bath, combining his interest in art with a wider academic grounding. Following his formal education, Kelly  spent periods in London, Portugal and Whitby in North Yorkshire, supporting himself through a variety of jobs while pursuing his painting career. Between 1974 and 1981 he exhibited in small galleries in the UK and Portugal. His first trip to Mexico in 1982 marked a significant turning point. The light, colour and urban vitality of Mexico City and its surroundings opened up new artistic possibilities for him. In 1985 a disastrous earthquake destroyed the apartment in which he lived, claimed the life of his partner Blanca, and destroyed much of his work. He retreated to the UK—but the pull of Mexico remained strong. 

In 1989 Kelly returned to Mexico City to settle more permanently. In 1990 he married Ruth Munguía (an arts-administrator), and the couple had two daughters: Ana Elena (born 1993) and María José (born 1997). In 1999 he became a Mexican citizen, further cementing his connection to his adopted country. Artistically, Kelly’s work is often described as urban, expressionist, electric with life. His city-scapes of Mexico City, his paintings of Oaxaca, his views of Dublin, and his seascapes of Mexico and Cornwall reveal an artist sensitive to place, rhythm, colour and the pulse of everyday life. He once said of Mexico: “I found here … the vitality of the music, the charm of each day, the poetry and a rhythm that doesn’t exist in most cities.” Kelly’s exhibitions included his breakthrough 1996 show at the Museo de Arte Moderno (Ciudad de México) (titled Babel Descifrada) and his first Irish solo show at the Frederick Gallery in Dublin in 1997.  His work is held in museum collections (including in Mexico) and numerous private collections internationally.

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