Kelly Brown's Gallery

Universal Rhythms

For this ongoing series I am painting on used, beat up drumheads, which I collect from musicians. The surface of the drumheads affects the relationship between itself and the paint since the drumskin surface does not absorb water well. Once the paint has touched the surface I am no longer in control, and the paint is free to move around, and collect in the drumhead’s crevices and imperfections. My painting process is spontaneous and automatic, without hesitation or thought, allowing each mark to come fluidly from my subconscious.

I create the paintings in stages…cycles…just like the circle symbolizes...working on many simultaneously. Each circle is a rhythmic being, and each splash, splatter, of the paint striking the drumhead is a beat. Each painting represents a visual rhythm of the infinite universe. Every form of nature is a diagram of the forces that created it, and so is true with each painting.