Kelly Lynn Jones: Tiny Tree

October 14 - November 18, 2023

The Pit Palm Springs

The Pit is pleased to present “Tiny Tree” Kelly Lynn Jones’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition will be on view October 14 - November 18, 2023 at The Pit Palm Springs with an opening reception Saturday October 14 from 5-7pm.

In his 1958 book The Poetics of Space (La poetique de l’espace), French philosopher Gaston Bachelard muses that the house––a ubiquitous symbol for the sacred domestic realm that we call home––is “our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word.” Whether grand or humble, this universe imprints itself upon the psyche of the dweller, invariably orienting our worldview and dictating “how we take root, day after day.” In its perfect archetypal state, according to Bachelard, “the house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace”––offering, at its best, a fertile creative refuge cushioned from the chaos of the external world.

Portraying vibrant, intimate scenes from her own domestic abode, Kelly Lynn Jones’ paintings nod to Bachelard’s philosophical conception of the home. Her crisp compositions, rendered in thick, impastoed layers of oil and acrylic, depict pleasing, dream-like interiors peppered with simple yet joyous objects: pancakes dripping with syrup, a vase of blood-red anthuriums, a leafed-through book, a tiny tree, a globe, a gift, Baby Yoda. These myriad objects function as indices of a lived domestic and maternal experience––a familial cosmos, of sorts––pointing to the ways in which we ascribe emotional meaning to the tangible things that comprise our home. Taken a step further, we can also understand Jones’ paintings as a collective ode to motherhood. By carefully illustrating these tiny slices of domestic life, she acknowledges the gravity of these scenes as ephemeral totems of her family’s private universe––kernels of memory that will shape the psyches of parent and child alike.

Embracing the raw, creative impulse of the child, Jones’ visual lexicon stems solely from the pool of her imagination: for example, she renders the figurine of a Stormtrooper or the intricate pattern of a rug based on memory alone, eschewing direct observation. Amidst these personal emblems, she often includes a figure (or animal) quietly reclining as if lost in a daydream, a gesture that harkens back to Bachelard’s notion of the ideal home as a haven, or perhaps even a portal, for the dreamer. Her vivid fluorescent palette emphasizes these associations––here, color functions as volume, amplifying the paintings’ whimsical, dream-like pitch. As each work begins with a loose sketch that in turn informs a small preparatory painting, which ultimately scaffolds the final, larger composition, Jones’ iterative process results in unique images that transform, often drastically, from one stage to the next. This metamorphosis mirrors the dynamism of our own dreams and memories, forever in flux.

Interestingly, while the components of her compositions may change, the organizing structure of Jones’ paintings often remains the same: many depict the same view of the corner of a room, punctured by a large window overflowing with sunlight. As the angle of light spilling from the window subtly shifts, so do the objects decorating the room, with each element functioning as a mutable marker of temporal change. Here, the steadfast frame of the window, like that of the painting itself, acts as a transitional object, a threshold between inside and outside the dreamspace. Thus, if the concept of home represents a perpetually shape-shifting universe, forever weaving new dreams and memories, the physical structure of the house (or the painting) is its shell––a safe shelter that cradles the dreamer.

For further information, please contact the gallery at info@the-pit.la.