ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Talbot’s work revolves around the landscape of American artifacts, craftsmanship and history. Signs and typography, architecture, industry, cemeteries and other emblems of society are the inspiration for her oil paintings. The rust and decay in the work aren’t negatives. They are both an elegy and a hope.
BIO
Kellie Talbot has long roots in Seattle. In 1906 her family left the Abruzzo mountains of Italy and settled in Rainier Valley. Though she was born in Hawaii and lived on both coasts growing up, Seattle became home in 1990.
By the 2012 Talbot and her husband began splitting their time between the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle and New Orleans with cross-country trips collecting reference material for Talbot’s work until eventually purchasing a home in New Orleans. She shares her studio space with a cat and a duck.
Currently she is represented by Patricia Rovzar Gallery in Seattle and
Cole Pratt Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana.
PRESS
“Kellie Talbot's paintings are instantly recognizable for their bold, almost exuberant, use of color. The dramatic juxtapositions of sunlight and shadow and the startlingly abrupt compositions are distinctive hallmarks of Talbot's work. Once-majestic signage, rusting machinery, and forlorn cemeteries are reoccurring themes. Her skill with oil paint is obvious: brightly-colored enamels peeling away from cold gray steel, the fragility of broken neon tubing or missing, rust emanating from a corroded façade—all are impeccably rendered. Though joyously colored, there is an inherent melancholy that underscores many of these works. Her paintings evoke not only time and memory, but also the poignant beauty that often lies before our eyes. For beauty can often be found in the most unlikely places, and Talbot has an exceptional gift for recognizing them.
Less obvious is the undercurrent of metaphor inherent in her work. Though ostensibly renderings of a vanishing American landscape, there is something more going on: these are not simply paintings of things, but echoes of lives once lived, of voices once heard and now stilled. They border upon portraiture. They are likenesses not only of architectural ruins, but odes to the nameless artisans and craftsmen who built them. One can almost sense the excitement that must have accompanied the building these structures, now left to weather and rust in out-of-the-way places. The welder who once joined the cold steel, the sign makers, the painters— the presence of their ghosts is palpable.”
— Michael J. Deas
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"...Kellie Talbot brings the smell of gas and the tang of rust to the room in her large oils on canvas that depict the peeling paint, neon tubes and flickering bulbs of the American dream. Staking out old signs, derelict factories, and rust belt beauty, she lovingly recreates their every detail, honoring and preserving them in paintings that are both portraits and memento mori..."
—Sarra Scherb
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FRENCH QUARTERLY MAGAZINE / Jazz Fest Poster
NOLA.COM / House Feature
WGNO / Jazz Fest Poster
OFFBEAT MAGAZINE / Jazz Fest Poster
NOLA.COM / Jazz Fest Poster
THE STRANGER / Online Feature
NEW ORLEANS. THE SCOUT GUIDE / Online version
MONDO NEON PODCAST / GUEST
OH BY THE WAY / Blog
ARTIST A DAY / Blog
THE JEALOUS CURATOR / Blog
DIRTYLAUNDRY.COM / Online Mag
FEEL DESAIN / Online Mag
ELLIE & CO. / Online Mag
FUBIZ / Online Mag
GIVE US ART/ Online Mag
STACKEDD MAGAZINE/ Online Mag
INAG BLOG / Blog
THIS ISN'T HAPPINESS/ Art, Photography, Design & Disappointment / Blog
ARTSY FORAGER/ Blog
SCHOENHAESSLICH / Blog
KONBINI / Online Mag
SOUTH WHIDBEY RECORD / Online Newspaper
STEPHANIE NITSCH / Blog
Artist of the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival poster
SHOWS
COLE PRATT GALLERY / New Orleans / A Visual Vernacular / April 4- April 27, 2024
PATRICIA ROVZAR GALLERY/ Seattle / THUNDERSTORMS AND NEON SIGNS / November 1-26, 2022
PATRICIA ROVZAR GALLERY/ Seattle / WHAT REMAINS / November 2-27, 2021
COLE PRATT GALLERY / New Orleans / solo show / March 29 - April 24, 2021
PATRICIA ROVZAR GALLERY/ Seattle / Kellie Talbot and Mark Beck / August 1 - August 29, 2020 ( virtual and by appointment )
SAM GALLERY/ Seattle Art Museum / September 5 - September 29, 2019
WOODSIDE BRASETH GALLERY/ Seattle, Washington / November 2018
SAM GALLERY/ Seattle Art Museum / September 5 - October 3, 2018
SAM GALLERY/ Seattle Art Museum / September 14 - October 15, 2017
TASTE CAFE /SAM GALLERY/ Seattle Art Museum / November 9, 2016 - February 5, 2017
SAM GALLERY/ Seattle Art Museum / September 8 - October 6, 2016
SAM GALLERY/ Seattle Art Museum / June 29 - July 30, 2016
MUSEO / Langley, Washington / two person show with Tim Leonard and Kellie Talbot / March 5 - March 27, 2016
MUSEO / Langley, Washington / group show / January 23rd - February 2016
SAM GALLERY/ Seattle Art Museum /group show with Elizabeth Gahan & Kate Protage / September 10th - October 22, 2015
OUT OF SIGHT / King Street Station, Seattle / group show / July 30 - August 2, 2015
SUR | REAL / Axis, Pioneer Square / dual show with Jeff Mihalyo /May 2015
Bherd Studios / Greenwood, Seattle / November 14th - December 2014
Vermillion / Seattle, Washington / Solo show / November 13th - December 6th, 2014
Columbia Winery / Woodinville, Washington / HERE (Again): Talbot & Gua / Oct - Jan 2014/15
Bherd Studios / Greenwood, Seattle / HERE: Talbot & Gua / March, April 2014
Axis Gallery / Pioneer Square, Seattle / Group Show: Ex Libris / March 2014
Bherd Studios / Greenwood, Seattle / Introductions Group Show / October 2013
Piranha Shop / Seattle /Boxes of Death —Traveling Group Show / June - August 2013
Smash Modern Art / Vancouver, BC / American Landscapes ( solo show) / February 1 - March 2, 2013
Virginia Inn / Belltown, Seattle / Solo Show / November, December 2012
Bherd Studios / Greenwood, Seattle / 'By The Yard' Group Show / September 2012
CORE Gallery / Seattle, WA / solo exhibition, Character of New Orleans / July 2012
Smash Modern Art / Vancouver, BC / (r)evolution Group Show / May, June 2012
Bherd Studios / Greenwood, Seattle / Vignettes Group Show / May 2012
Gainsbourg / Greenwood, Seattle / solo exhibition / October 14-November 10, 2011
Other Coast Cafe / Ballard, Seattle / solo exhibition / October 2011
Bherd Studios / Greenwood, Seattle / (Sub)Urban Group Show / May 2011
Virginia Inn / Belltown, Seattle / Solo Show / May, June 2011
Bherd Studios / Greenwood, Seattle, WA / Take 5 Group Show / November, December 2010
Elysian Brewery/ Tangletown, Seattle, WA / solo exhibition / oil paintings / October, November 2010
Elysian Brewery / Capitol Hill, Seattle, WA / solo exhibition / oil paintings / August, September 2010
Elysian Brewery / Qwest Field, Seattle, WA / solo exhibition / oil paintings / June, July 2010
La Familia Gallery / Seattle, WA / STARS & TYPE[S] solo show / oil paintings / May 2010
Bherd Studios / Greenwood, Seattle, WA / Sign of The Times group show / May 2010
Neptune Coffee / Greenwood, Seattle, WA / solo exhibition / oil paintings / November, December 2009
Sand Point Grill / Sandpoint, Seattle, WA / solo exhibition / oil paintings / October, November 2009
Bherd Gallery / Greenwood, Seattle, WA / Soapbox / group show / oil paintings / September 2009
Conor Byrne Pub / Seattle, WA / solo exhibition / oil paintings / September 2009
CVG Gallery / Bremerton, WA / annual juried state competition / 2nd place 2D art / February 2009
ISH Vintage / Bremerton, WA / solo exhibition / oil paintings / February 2009
Gimmee Baby Robots / Portland, Chicago, Seattle, LA / traveling auction / oil paintings / 2008 - present
Vermillion / Seattle, WA / Artreach group show / oil paintings / December 2008
Ace Studios / Seattle, WA / group show / oil paintings / September 2008
Gallery 63Eleven / Seattle, WA / Vegas solo show / oil paintings / July, August 2008
Office PDX / Portland, OR / Vegas solo exhibition / oil paintings / May 2008
Hideout / Seattle, WA / group collection / oil paintings / February 2008-present
Vermillion / Seattle, WA / group show / oil paintings / January 2008
Collins Pub / Seattle, WA / Vegas solo exhibition / oil paintings / September, October 2007
Conor Byrne Pub / Seattle, WA / Vegas solo show / oil paintings / June 2007
Gallery 63Eleven / Seattle, WA / group show / oil paintings / January 2007
All City Coffee / Seattle, WA / solo exhibition / oil paintings / December 2006
Gallery 63Eleven / Seattle, WA / A Song For Occupations solo exhibition / oil paintings / June 2006
Gallery 63Eleven / Seattle, WA / Of New Things solo exhibition / oil paintings / March, April 2005
Aftermath / Seattle, WA / Cemeteries solo exhibition / oil paintings / June 2004
Artcore Studios / Georgetown, Seattle, WA / Industry solo exhibition / oil paintings / February 2004