Keltie Ferris

Keltie Ferris’s compositions channel the catalytic potential of medium and physical technique into expressions of physicality, energy, and change. His works thrum with vibrant color and a diverse deployment of pictorial forms and textures. Hand-painted pattern fields, bursts of spray paint and oil pastel, raised outlines, and pixelated backgrounds nod to a wide range of visual lineages, including natural motifs, ancient craftwork, Abstract Expressionism, contemporary digital images. In his large-scale paintings, thick areas of medium are built up, then alternately swiped, blurred, and removed with a variety of tools. By deconstructing his own process of painting into its most fundamental actions and materials, Ferris offers an expansive vision of abstraction as a site of formal experimentation and conceptual ingenuity.

Keltie Ferris (b. 1977, Louisville, Kentucky) received his BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 2004 and his MFA from the Yale School of Art in 2006. His work has recently been shown in solo exhibitions at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York (2023, 2021); Morán Morán, Mexico City (2023), Los Angeles, California (2019); Kadel Willborn, Düsseldorf, Germany (2019); and the Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky (2018). Ferris lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.