Mr. Kelly was a true original, forging his art equally from the observational exactitude he gained as a youthful bird - watching enthusiast; from skills he developed as a designer of
camouflage patterns while in the Army; and from exercises in automatic drawing he picked up from European surrealism.
But
while his lexicon is recognizable, it is enigmatic and incomprehensible as it repeats and creates a visual cacophony — a kind of buzzing of color and
pattern — that
camouflages and obfuscates the panels, photographs, walls, clothing and found paper on which he paints and draws.