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John Kiley exhibition catalog, Traver Gallery, October 2012
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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.
4
9
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
25
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 [email protected]
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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.”
46