Kelly Goff Artist Talk

4pm artist talk with images --

Kelly Goff is a sculptor who constructs and rehabilitates objects, especially those that exist amid a world of opposites. Making his recent work, Crates, at the Chulitna Residency, Lake Clark, Alaska, Goff lived in a wilderness full of majestic beauty and offshore oilrigs. He milled lumber by hand and constructed shipping crates that ultimately traveled back to the East coast of the United States and were exhibited with all of the flaws, dents and scuffs from their journey, as well as an interior sound piece entitled Passage. As Goff explains, “the notion of repair has permeated my work. Even as my skill set has grown considerably since childhood, I still often enact repairs that are futile, like treating the surface of a downtrodden object while ignoring its structure.” This sentiment is obvious in works like Dumpster which highlights the duality between the trashed outer surface and an enlivened aqua interior that is treated with paint, translucent pigments and mica powder.

Goff received an MFA in Sculpture (2009) from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI and a BA in Visual Art (2002) from the New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL. Recent solo exhibitions include Emerald City at the Boston Children's Museum Gallery and Kelly Goff: Break Down at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, MA. Goff is the recipient of an Artist Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (2015); a full fellowship for the Chulitna Residency, Lake Clark, Alaska (2014); an Andrew W. Mellon Research Award (2013); and full fellowship for residency at the Vermont Studio Center (2008), among others.