About Kelly
Living and painting within the Sherbrooke rainforest and in McCrae on the Mornington Peninsula, Kelly Kondis’ landscapes are impressionistic reflections of her encompassing environments. Inspired by natural light, colour and texture, her works unify the depiction of these elements, whilst portraying their consistently fleeting and ever-changing temper.
Raised on the outskirts of Melbourne’s north eastern suburbs, Kelly discovered oil paints at the conclusion of high school. Opting to develop her style through practice and repetition, she painted intermittently while working a range of retail, administration and self-employment positions. After losing her business during the COVID-19 pandemic, she began painting more steadily than she had previously, and it soon became her primary line of work.
Since 2021, Kelly’s works have exhibited in regional Victoria, Melbourne and regional New South Wales. Additionally, she’s been a finalist in several Australian art competitions, and won the Starving Artist’s Prize at the 2022 Blarney’s Biblio Art Awards.
In the early phase of the painting process, Kelly selects a number of colours to form her foundational base and applies them directly to the surface of the canvas. Painting principally in oils, with occasional details produced in watercolours and pastels, her landscapes are constructed over many layers and in muted palettes, as a means to describe shifts in weather patterns and environmental facets. While periodically creating works alla prima, most scapes are completed over the course of several weeks, as layers are provided the time to dry, emerge and be added to.
Producing scapes that exist in a state of augmentation and transformation, Kelly’s works are often immersive and sensory renderings. Frequently yielding to her intuitive responses and allowing these reactions to guide her process, her works are highly evocative in their nature, and summon sensations of curiosity and enlightenment.
Exhibitions
2023 Group Show - Bluethumb Awards, Bluethumb, Richmond
2023 Solo Show - Inclement, UP Gallery, Sassafras
2023 Solo Show - Juliet's Sky, Little Oberon Gallery, Fish Creek
2023 Affordable Art Fair, The Toowoomba Gallery, Carlton
2023 Inaugural Group Opening, Red Fox Pottery Studio Gallery, Berwick
2023 40 x 40, UP Gallery, Sassafras
2023 Land Sea Sky, Art Lovers Australia, Collingwood
2023 Camberwell Art Show, Hawthorn
2023 Hidden In the Hills, UP Gallery, Sassafras
2023 Harden Art Prize, Bendigo Bank, Harden
2023 Fiercely Feminine, Art Lovers Australia, Collingwood
2023 Art Red Hill, Red Hill Consolidated School, Red Hill
2023 Biblio Art Prize, Blarney Books and Art, Port Fairy
2023 Small Works Art Prize, Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy
2022 Summer Series, 26 Advantage Gallery, Highett
2022 Elementary , Earthly Pleasures, Belgrave
2021 Off the Cuff, A MAVA Collective Group Exhibition, The Hut Gallery, Ferntree Gully
2021 Monochrome, MAVA online
2021 Fifty Squared Art Prize, Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy
2021 Wabi Sabi - the Beauty of Imperfection, Burrinja Gallery - DROS Group Exhibition, Upwey
Prizes
Bluethumb Art Prize 2023 - Finalist
Salon Des Refuses, Lethbridge Small Scale Award 2023 - Finalist
The Harden Art Prize 2023 - Finalist
Art Red Hill 2023 - Category Winner 'Highly Commended Painting/Work on Paper'
Blarney's Biblio-Art Awards 2022 - Category Winner 'Starving Artist'
Unearthed at Art to Art 2022 - Finalist