Hiding in Plain Sight

Hiding in Plain Sight is the second solo exhibition of Vancouver-based artist Ross C. Kelly to be presented by Art Beatus Gallery. It surveys a range of new works that speak cumulatively for the artist’s core interests as well as more recent insights stemming from his practice. The general focus of this work is the descriptive limitations of photography; of particular interest is the portrayal of space. Upon entering a space, be it physical or pictorial, we initiate a conversation involving much more than simply what is seen. Spaces have their own histories; their own relationships with other places and other people; resemblances and impressions mistaken or otherwise; and a specific connection (or not) with the viewer.

This conversation unfolds within a well of persistent and unnoticed gravities. It is the sum of an equation made up of so many minute and discrete parts, constantly appearing and disappearing and which never quite balance out. Thus, our interpretations are momentary and incomplete—there is and always will be something missing, something unnoticed.

Meandering through well-trodden photographic territory, from landscape to cityscape to street photography, the works in Hiding in Plain Sight embody various strategies the artist has engaged with to widen the conversation by enlarging the descriptive vocabulary of the photograph. Failing that, these works at least try to confess their inherent limitations, constantly gesturing to what lies outside of their own time and confines and to the tenuous notions of first impressions.