John Kiley - Aurorae - Traver Gallery

JOHN KILEY AURORAE TRAVER GALLERY

JOHN KILEY AURORAE TRAVER GALLERY

JOHN KILEY / AURORAETRAVER GALLERY / OCTOBER 2012

John Kiley’s sculptures are lessons in balance and stability. His deconstructed spheres appear suspended in time;

captured in mid-motion they appear to tumble, lean, and roll through space. Transparent and opaque, they draw us in

to the nuances of the form; the interior and exterior relationships change as we move around them, the reflective and

transparent surfaces of the glass endlessly shifting with the changing light and weather of each day. They are gravity

defying and they are suspenseful — and like good sculpture in every medium, they demand your attention.

We are very proud to introduce John Kiley’s second solo show at Traver Gallery. In this exhibition the artist introduces

an entirely new body of opaque work. With his monochromatic colors Kiley calls on us to examine the purity of the

form. Alongside these new densely colored works he continues to study the possibilities of transparency in glass;

playing with overlapping color and highly polished mirrored surfaces he creates complex and dynamic optics. In

both the opaque and transparent series, each sculpture is a viscerally enthralling and exquisite study — an artist’s

meditation on form, balance, and color.

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The final decision I make before a piece

is complete is how it will be situated.

During this final step, there is a moment

when I don’t know for sure if it will survive

or lie broken on the studio floor. It is in

this final step that each piece finds its own

unique balance; it is in this moment that

the sculpture emerges and comes to life.”

JOHN KILEY 2012

“

Bronze Halo 12.5 x 13 x 13 inches, 201212

Red Halo 14.5 x13 x15 inches, 2012

Contradiction 14 inches diameter, 2012

Amber Overlap 16 x 11 x 15.5 inches, 201216

Title of Piece 21 x 12.5 x 4.5 inches

Tumbler 15 x 13.5 x 13 inches, 2012 19

Arctic Concentric 17 inches diameter, 2012 20

White Leaning Overlap 11 x 12.5 x 12.5 inches, 2012 23

Sail 12.5 x 13 x 15 inches, 2012 24

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Integration 17 x 16 x 16 inches, 2012 27

Sectioned Sunrise 11 x 12.5 x 10 inches, 201228

Falling Nest 16 x 13 x 13 inches, 2012

Dive 15 x 13 x 11 inches, 2012

Title of Piece 21 x 12.5 x 4.5 inches Precarious Jewel 13.5 x 13 x 13.75 inches, 2012

Turn 13.5 inches diameter, 201234

Title of Piece 21 x 12.5 x 4.5 inches

Fade 16 x 13 x 13 inches, 2012 37

Open 15.5 x 13 x 14 inches, 2012 39

Suspension 14.75 x 9 x 14.75 inches, 201240

Suspension 14.75 x 9 x 14.75 inches, 2012

Solstice 14 x 8 x 13 inches, 2012

Curved Twilight Overlap 12 x 10 x 11 inches, 2012 44

Traver Gallery 110 Union Street #200 Seattle, Washington 98101 206 587-6501 info@travergallery.com

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Trav

erA native of Seattle, John Kiley began his professional career at the age of nineteen at The Glass Eye

Studio. Promoted to Gaffer on Dale Chihuly’s chandelier team at the age of twenty-one, he travelled

to Finland, Ireland, Mexico, and Italy as part of the Chihuly Over Venice Team. He was a principal

member of Lino Taglipietra’s team until 2011 when he became the Glass Director at the Schack Art

Center in Everett, Washington. In addition to his work with Chihuly and Tagliapietra, John has worked

with Dante Marioni and Benjamin Moore and has been a teaching assistant to Lino Tagliapietra, Dante

Marioni, Benjamin Moore, Richard Marquis, Josiah McElhenny, Checco Ongaro, and Ben Edols.

He has been a visting instructor at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland; The

Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, Israel; and the Pittsburgh Glass Center and Pratt

Fine Arts Center in Seattle. He has worked and demonstrated in Finland, Ireland, Mexico, Italy, Japan,

Bulgaria, China, Australia, Brazil, and Turkey. In August 2010, Traver Gallery gave John his first solo

glass show entitled The Space Within. Since then he has exhibited his work at galleries around the world.

John says of his work: “Constantly, I ask myself the question: Why do I choose to work with glass?

Transparency, optics, the physical challenge, or a primal fascination with fire, are valid reasons that

many glass objects are created. For me, it is important that these material attributes work in service

of the sculpture, rather than be the reason for the sculpture. I am drawn to the way glass, and its

perceived delicacy and preciosity, can create a sense of tension, concern, and longing in the viewer

(and myself). The final decision I make before a piece is complete is how it will be situated. During this

final step, there is a moment when I don’t known for sure if it will survive or lie broken on the studio

floor. It is in this final step that each piece finds its own unique balance; it is in this moment that the

sculpture emerges and comes to life. I hope that this new body of work, both opaque and transparent,

seemingly stable or precarious, succeeds in evoking feelings that would not be present without this

choice in material.”

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