Keltie Ferris

Keltie Ferris is best known for patterned paintings that use acrylic and oil, spray gun and brushes, as well as erasure and impasto to create energetic abstractions that vibrate with contrasts of medium application, color combinations, and compositional strategies. In his early work, he experimented with pixelated backgrounds and blurred foregrounds to tease at depth perception; now, he builds-up thick areas of relief to add a dimension, although he redacts the process as well by wiping away areas of the imagery. Ferris continuously expands his relationship to painting, both in the way he handles the medium but also how his work relates to the history of the genre, considering the relationship of an artist’s identity to their output of imagery.  

Keltie Ferris (b. 1977, Louisville, KY) lives and works in Brooklyn and Woodstock, NY. He graduated with a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 2004, and received an MFA from the Yale School of Art in 2006. Solo exhibitions include *O*P*E*N* at The Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY (2018); Body Prints and Paintings at the University Art Museum at SUNY Albany, Albany, NY (2016); Keltie Ferris: Doomsday Boogie at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA (2014); and Man Eaters at the Kemper Museum, Kansas City, MO (2009-10). His works have been included in group exhibitions at institutions such as: Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL; Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston, Houston, TX; The Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Indianapolis, IN; and The Kitchen, New York, NY. In 2014, he received the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award in Painting by the Academy of Arts and Letters. Ferris’ work is included in public collections at The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Oppenheimer Collection), Overland Park, KS; The Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; and Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea.