Jake Kelly was initially trained as a painter. Over the years he became increasingly preoccupied with the sculptural deconstruction of the painting until the works were no longer recognisable as paintings but as explorations of networks referred to as constructions. The stretcher is the basis of these constructions. For the site specific installations whole spaces serve as the stretcher for his line sculpture.

Kelly is fascinated by the simple act of making a line. The foundation of our shared human culture from ancient cave paintings to 3D printing can be traced fundamentally to lines. Kelly calls upon the significance and history of lines as the foundation of his practice. His work manifests sculpturally through the use of humble materials such as string and wood.
The use of democratised materials is significant as a statement for the accessibility of art for everyone. Kelly has appropriated these materials for the development of his own intuitive technique with a decade’s worth of refinement creating intricate networks of string and paint.