Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland presents “Scott Kelley: The Whale,” an immersive installation of new two- and three-dimensional work by Peaks Island-based artist Scott Kelley. The exhibition opens Aug. 7 with a public reception from 5 to 7 p.m. and remains on view through Aug. 29.
The exhibition celebrates the 175th anniversary of the publication of Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick.”
The tale of the vengeful Captain Ahab and his relentless pursuit of the great white whale, Moby Dick, has been an enduring source of inspiration for Kelley since he first encountered the novel as a teenager.
“Moby Dick entered my life at the age of 16,” Kelley said, “and has informed everything I know, love and hate about the sea, and all its moods.”
Multiple readings over the years prompted Kelley’s extensive research into whaling history and culture, resulting in an earlier series of watercolor paintings depicting whales and the imagined children of lost whalers.
“The Whale” brings together work in a variety of media, from painted resin sculptures of whalemen’s knit caps and three-dimensional shadow boxes of hand-drawn waves to large-scale watercolors of the novel’s crew and scenes. The exhibition explores the novel’s central themes of man versus nature and fate versus free will.
“I’ve always thought of my gallery exhibits as operas complete with a cast of characters from a libretto,” Kelley said.
Kelley attended the Slade School of Fine Art at University College London. He received his BFA from The Cooper Union in New York and pursued postgraduate studies at the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. His work has been shown at the Portland Museum of Art, where it is in the permanent collection, and in more than 35 solo exhibitions throughout the United States.
Kelley has been an artist-in-residence at the Edward F. Albee Foundation in Montauk, New York, and through the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program at Palmer Station, Antarctica. “The Whale” is his ninth solo exhibition with Dowling Walsh.
Recent shows have included “Richard Estes: Woods & Waters” and “Wolf Kahn: Beyond Intention,” both of which closed Aug. 1.
Dowling Walsh Gallery is at 357 Main St. in Rockland. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and by appointment Sunday and Monday. For more
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