ARTIST BIO
Kelly Marie Hogan is an LA-based contemporary artist, painter & muralist with a positive mission...
Born on September 6, 1988 – Kelly grew up in Fairfield County, CT; just North of New York City. She began drawing and painting on things as soon as she was introduced to the mark-making tools of arts and crafts as a toddler. Her first masterpiece, or so she thought, was an inspired process, which had consisted of her coloring on the entire outside of her duvet cover with "washable" markers...that did not wash out. Her muse had been watching Aladdin for the very first time, the flying carpet scene started playing and she was captured by the song "A Whole New World". The idea of transforming her comforter into an into an elaborately-designed flying carpet was born and executed. From that point forward she wanted to be able to create her own world. It wasn't until years later that a miracle happened, which triggered her breakthrough on this notion. She was called to practice rigorous self-work and to give back by helping others in need, especially those also feeling powerless. It reignited her with a spiritual connection she could only really remember having had as incredibly when she was young- especially when playing outside in nature, adventuring and climbing trees. From this transformation in her life, she realized that creating one's own "whole new world" is actually possible, and everyone has the power to do so. Since her epiphany, she's made it her mission as an artist to show others through her positively charged art-making process that they can be creators too.
Kelly graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles with a BA in Fine Art and minored in Graphic Design. As a student, she used her art education and the experience she gained from all of her classes to enhance her already prominent style, which she had been developing and practicing over the many years prior. She was awarded the Scholar of Distinction for Fine Arts in drawing and painting, along with the same title for her skills in jewelry design/metal-working. She also studied screen-printing, which she had a love affair with on the side- while always knowing that she would forever be married to painting.
She was based out of Venice, CA where she lived and worked for over 6 years and had really began solidly growing her series of works. Always preferring to paint in larger-scale, she eventually relocated to a bigger studio space in North Hollywood. Although, she feels that Venice Beach will always remain her true “artist home” in Los Angeles. She is bi-coastally torn between the two cities of NYC and LA, and considers New York as her second creative home-base.
Her work is best described as a form of versatile abstraction. Painting abstractly is most freeing to her, as it comes naturally. Sometimes she will introduce representational matter to live among her signature, energetically intertwined lines. She likes to explore by creating contrast, depth, and texture by varying and combining her learned and newly discovered techniques. There’s a deconstructive quality that appears in a lot of her line-work, that makes up different shapes and symbols- all having positive meaning that she applies to them in her world. Her designs tend to have a fragmented feel, while being both graphic and painterly and at times they appear to be mosaic-like. She intentionally creates these multi-faceted, dimensional puzzle planes for others to enter into. The depth of the environment of each dimension she creates and the complexity of every piece she produces ranges. Each one derives from how deep she finds herself adventuring in the other worlds she chooses to see in her mind at the time. With an open direction and a process that often has no boundaries, Kelly experiments as well in the 3D plane- by creating even more planes within it. She has also incorporated lights/lighting into her work, as well as found materials. She loves finding and discovering new possible mediums and introducing them into to her collections. Using various surfaces to build upon making them into different forms, she creates structured dimensions within dimensions from an internal place that has little to no structure- her imagination or her subconscious.
Kelly keeps expanding her artwork and continues to engage internally with her worlds, and externally with the world around her...always having an open-mind and a child-like desire to explore and grow further.