“I watched the tiny droplets of water, almost completely weightless, and at the mercy of the slightest breeze, magical as they disperse through the crowds.” - Oli Kellett
HackelBury Fine Art presents Oli Kellett’s solo exhibition, Fountains from 28th March until 17th May 2025.
Following the success of Cross Road Blues (2016–2020) which captured still moments of people waiting at crossroads, Kellett continues his exploration of the urban environment with his latest series, Fountains.
In Fountains, Kellett shifts his focus from wide cityscapes to the delicate, often unseen beauty of tiny
water droplets propelled into the air by the fountains of Trafalgar Square in London. Having travelled the world for Cross Road Blues, the artist now finds inspiration much closer to home—just steps away from his beloved National Gallery.
Using a telephoto lens and capturing these very fine water droplets suspended in the air, Kellett looks
through a translucent veil, creating painterly, almost ethereal compositions. He embraces an element of chance, surrendering control to the atmospheric forces of wind, light, and weather. This approach reflects his broader artistic philosophy—the search for the universal in the everyday.
As with much of his work, Kellett was specifically drawn to images which evoke art historical references. The fragmented droplets echo the pointillist technique of Seurat, while other works recall paintings by Courbet, Auerbach or the dreamlike qualities of masters such as Monet, Van Gogh, and Whistler.
About Oli Kellett
Oli Kellett is a British artist based in Hastings, UK, who studied at Central Saint Martins in London.
From 2016–2020, he devoted himself to exploring the urban setting and our relationship with the
crossroad and how people navigate their lives in his series Crossroad Blues. The book with the same
title, Crossroad Blues, by Oli Kellett was published by Nazraeli in 2023. From 2020 onwards, his work took on a more introspective approach when he took a step back from the camera with his Life Drawings series and daily Soap Dish drawings.
While Kellett is strongly influenced by painting and the compositional techniques used, he loves the
chance moment which one can capture with a photograph and is intrigued by moments of human
contemplation. In 2018 Oli Kellett was awarded the Rose Award for Photography and the Royal
Academy Arts Club Award, London. In 2021 he was shortlisted for the Photo London Emerging
Photographer Award. He was awarded the Royal Photographic Society International Photography
Exhibition 161 Bronze Prize. Works from Kellett’s Soap Drawings series were included in the Royal
Academy Summer Exhibition in 2022 and 2023.
In 2024 Kellett was shortlisted for the 7th John Ruskin Prize and his work was exhibited in January 2025 at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London. Oli Kellett has works in private collections in the UK, Europe and the USA.
About HackelBury Fine Art
HackelBury Fine Art was founded twenty-six years ago by Marcus Bury and Sascha Hackel. The gallery is committed to championing artists working with the visual arts who push the boundaries of their medium to create meaningful and contemplative work.
The London based gallery initially showcased classic photography from the 20th century including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Berenice Abbott, Malick Sidibe, and Sebastião Salgado. The transition from traditional photography to more conceptual work was as intuitive as it was organic, beginning with artists such as William Klein, Pascal Kern, Doug and Mike Starn, Garry Fabian Miller, Katja Liebmann, Ian McKeever, Stephen Inggs and Bill Armstrong. In recent years the gallery has taken on emerging artists such as Oli Kellett, Nadezda Nikolova, Alys Tomlinson, Coral Woodbury and Sharon Walters.
Each artist, whether emerging or established, creates work defined by a depth of thought and breadth and consistency of approach. The small group of artists with whom HackelBury work, represent a diversity of practice yet share an artistic integrity which the gallery is fully committed to supporting in the long-term.
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Camilla Cañellas – Arts Consultancy & PR
E: [email protected] M:+34 660375123
Phil Crook – HackelBury Fine Art
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