KELSEY IRVIN

ARTIST STATEMENT

Driven to bring new life to objects that might otherwise be lost or deteriorated in time, I collect traces of lives lived – “memories misplaced in need of recognition” – and use them in my work collaboratively with the paint itself. Most often I work with vintage ephemera, oil, acrylic, and graphite.

My work reaches for a balance between the past and the present, while acknowledging what might trigger sentimentality in the future. I do so through the collaborative merging of styles and media. Vintage elements expressed in contemporary times.

Over a decade ago I began using various paper ephemera in collage out of love for the materials. The textures, the colors, and most especially the stories they hold. Now, I use them for the same reasons, as well as one more: These materials hold historical importance that we have yet to recognize. Our children know of books and magazines. They use them, but their children may hardly use them at all. And their grandchildren may not even recognize them.

We hardly even write letters anymore. So, this is my medium. Vintage ephemera, as we call it, surrounds me in my studio and holds the same importance as the paint does...if not more.