Vesper, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 33 x 25 inches framed
Flower Knot, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 25 x 33 inches framed
Turn Two, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 33 x 25 inches framed
Palmetto, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 50 x 63 inches framed
bbb, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 48 x 59 inches framed
First Love, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 25 x 25 inches framed
A picnic with you, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 25 x 25 inches framed
Away From Home Knot, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 25 x 33 inches framed
Laying in the Tall Grass, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 39 x 51 inches framed
Tangier, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 50 x 63 inches framed
Breeze, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 33 x 25 inches framed
Walking in the Tule Fog, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 39 x 51 inches framed
Suez, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 25 x 25 inches framed
The Quiet One, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 52 x 76 inches framed
Francis Ireland, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 25 x 25 inches framed
Future Horizons, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 15 x 15 inches framed
Super Future Horizons, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 15 x 15 inches framed
Earliest Memories, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 17 x 35 inches framed
Young Sailors, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 25 x 25 inches framed
CC (Places We Don't Get To See), 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 25 x 33 inches
ZZ (Slow Drip), 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 25 x 33 inches framed
Spectra, 2024, acrylic on hand-dyed paper, 17 x 35 inches framed
Rainbow Song, 2024, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 144 inches
Reading Palms at Pt 2. Gallery
Oakland, California | April 13 - May 24, 2024
Reading Palms marks Kelly Ording’s fourth solo exhibition at pt. 2 Gallery, delving deeper into the emotive qualities of color, shape, and composition. Serving as both a meditation on and a celebration of minimalism, beauty, patience, and perseverance, Ording confidently navigates structure and space. Employing a slow, intuitive process of hand-dying and careful painting, she creates geometric patterns that revel in satisfying repetition and color theory. Much like interpreting the lines of a palm, the strokes in Ording’s paintings unveil stories and deeper layers of meaning.
The exhibition showcases Ording's mastery of craft, presenting complex works that encourage slow making and slow looking through the subtle complexities of line, shape, and color. Ording’s process embodies a delicate balance between chaos and order - the background is shaped by a spontaneous and organic process, while the foreground is built by the controlled human hand. Themes of representation and personal growth permeate her work, such as the piece Me Knot marking Ording's first venture into self-portraiture. With a practice spanning over 24 years, Ording’s work has evolved from gestural to controlled, reflecting the transformative journey of motherhood and a quest for equilibrium.