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Cross Road Blues

The series borrows its title from the legendary blues song by Robert Johnson which some claim is a reference to the singer selling his soul to the devil at a Mississippi Delta crossroads. The mythology surrounding Johnson’s song can be interpreted as a cautionary tale of the price paid for the American Dream, and Kellett’s allusion to it leaves the viewer wondering if the figures in his photographs chose their souls or their dreams at their crossroads.

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The individuals and small clusters of people waiting in Kellett’s photographs seem to be part of a film set, strangely isolated in typically bustling urban centres and surrounded with cinematographic lighting. Like a film, each person tells a unique story about their American experience. One man waits for a passing school bus before crossing the street with a cast on his right foot (PeachTree St, Atlanta). A family stands together near the corner of the street (Hubbard St, Chicago), possibly deciding whether to walk or take the nearby stairs up to the train. Taken as a whole, the series shows commonalities that all humans share: waiting, thinking, deciding which way to go.

Life Drawing

“In the summer of 2019 I took this photograph in Rio de Janeiro, it shows a man waiting at a crossroad pointing directly up at the sky while the woman he is with shields her eyes from the sun and follows where he is pointing with his finger. In hindsight I realise his moment was the end of the Cross Road Blues series of photographs. For over 3 years whilst photographing people waiting at crossroads, I had been asking myself similar questions to the ones alluded to in my photographs, questions about decisions and directions I wanted life to take. The gesture of the finger pointing up to the sky brings so many art historical references to mind, and they all question ideas of spirituality and immortality. The photograph above felt like a sign and more importantly a stepping stone to explore more metaphysical ideas in my work. It felt like having taken this photography, I had permission to move my work forwards and, in doing so, bringing the cross road Blues work to a natural end.

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My continued yet meagre understanding in Taoism and Japanese Zen Buddhism had questioned my need to go out and ‘capture’ photographs and it was with these thoughts in my mind that I first noticed the cutlery marks left on the inside of cups and bowls.The circular marks found on the inside of a cup or bowl, collected over many years but each mark created in a split second, interested me and I wondered if there was a way of lifting these marks off the 3 dimensional cups and bowls and onto paper they would make interesting ‘drawings’ alluding to the idea of ‘The eternal in transitory’ as Baudelaire called in The Painter of Modern Life.

The circle is considered the most universal of all basic shapes. With no beginning or end, its form is associated with The Eternal and the Divine. In Zen Buddhism the hand drawn circle represents Enlightenment and it’s believed the circle can’t be explained, only experienced by one who has achieved emptiness of the mind.

I have photographed dozens of cups and bowls, sourced from charity shops and friends, over the last 2 years and the resulting work has become the series Life Drawing."

Oli Kellett

Art installation image-Oli Kellett-Cross Road Blues-gallery interior with photographic artworks on walls
Art installation image-Oli Kellett-Cross Road Blues-gallery interior with photographic artworks on walls
Art installation image-Oli Kellett-Cross Road Blues-gallery interior with photographic artworks on walls
HackelBury Fine Art installation image-Oli Kellett-Cross Road Blues-gallery interior with photographic artworks on walls
Art installation image-Oli Kellett-Cross Road Blues-gallery interior with photographic artworks on walls
HackelBury Fine Art installation image-Oli Kellett-Cross Road Blues-gallery interior with photographic artworks on walls
HackelBury Fine Art installation image-Oli Kellett-Cross Road Blues

To see more of the artist’s work, please contact the gallery