William Kelley’s life is traveling the world, absorbing entire cultures, a fascination with people, and an appreciation of the beauty of the universe. He paints all that and more. A fellow artist bestowed a great accolade when he said, “Kelley is the only one of us who paints his life.” Early in his career, he concentrated on paintings of people in their everyday life; genre paintings. According to one art critic “Kelley’s genre paintings are in the company of all those artists whose style did not follow the trend, but were the historians of the period. It is an unprejudiced, objective view of everyday life. Its chief motive is the joy of life itself.”
Of late, Kelley has been spending more time in Florence, Italy, as well as the surrounding hill towns of Tuscany, painting what he sees with equal parts skill, perception, and poetry. The results are land and cityscapes loaded with charm and bucolic beauty. His work is now recognized internationally. According to the well-respected author and art historian Sister Wendy, “Kelley creates a healing world and not in any way escapist; no, it is as profound a vision as one could want. His work is so rich, glowing, subtle, its colors and patterns so measured in their rhythm. Its impact of serious joy so deep. Magnificent!” Kelley’s unique painterly style produces and alluring, often amazing effect.
