"Bather" by Kelly Popoff

Kelly Popoff

Short bio

Artist and educator, Kelly Popoff, was born in Akron, Ohio and lives and works in Greenfield, MA. Kelly’s recent honors include: Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in Drawing 2020, The Clowes Fund Fellowship and Residency, Vermont Studio Center 2019, Millay Colony Fellow 2018, The Artist’s Resource Trust Fellowship and Residency, Vermont Studio Center 2017, The Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation Grant 2017, a Promise Award from the Sustainable Arts Foundation 2016, Finalist Award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in Painting 2016. Recent solo shows include At Home with Our Histories at The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, O Children at Herter Gallery, The University of Massachusetts and Rock on Doily at Augusta Savage Gallery, The University of Massachusetts. Kelly has exhibited in international group shows including shows curated by jurors such as Carter E. Foster (Curator of Drawing at the Whitney Museum of American Art), Richard Klein (Director of the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum), Trenton Doyle Hancock (contemporary artist), Camilo Alvarez of Samson Projects, Rachel Wolff (art critic and writer) and Deborah Rockman (contemporary artist).

 American Snapshot Series

Artist Statement

The work in this exhibit includes work from the last three years. During this time I have been looking at images of Americana: doll collections, gun collections, antique furniture, clothing patterns, model home kits, yearbooks, toys, etc.. Perhaps as an instinctive response to try to make sense of our current culture by looking back. Or maybe, to find connections that may explain why our history seems so present and unresolved. More recently, I have been gifted a large collection of vintage snapshots that allowed me a more intimate look into America’s past. My current paintings and drawings use these photos as a reference to try to capture the essence of American life – with emphasis on family, memory and socio-psychological dynamics.

My creative life has been most influenced by my childhood and the injustices that I felt in the two areas that dominated during that time: my home life and my Catholic school education. The social dynamics of these two realms overlap in ways that fuel my desire to bring to light abuses of power. My work addresses social concerns, often pertaining to children, animals and others in powerless positions that are susceptible to manipulation.

Houses and clothing are recurring images my work. They allow me to address issues of being human without the presence of a specific person. They are intimate representations of those that I know and those that I do not. They are sacred spaces of joy and pain.

Kelly Popoff