Meet assemblage and performance artist Kelly Gough - the “Mistress of Materials”
Kelly Gough is a passionate 3 dimensional assemblage and performance artist from Vancouver Island, BC. Her evocative installation artworks are rooted in her life experiences and present a powerful and sometimes comedic voice from the common and mundane materials that surround our everyday lives. She describes the repetition of ordinary objects, fastening of materials in unexpected ways, and the merging of incongruent substances as the underpinning that define her work as a material artist. Here you’ll find an online gallery of Kelly Gough’s contemporary artwork, which includes sculptures made from stripped industrial copper wire, rubber pond liner, and yes, even long sweet pliable strings of licorice.
Gough’s 22 years as a social worker in the Canadian military have given her an instinctive awareness of the often arresting truths that camouflage themselves among the seemingly ordinary. Motivated by her own process of recovery from post traumatic stress disorder, Kelly Gough creatively urges us to see these truths in 3 dimensional assemblage, to share in a sensory experience, and hear the compelling stories she tells with silent commentary.
Kelly’s artwork has strong feminist themes and also challenges the universal stereotypes and misconceptions of mental illness. Her work is a bold addition to international contemporary art galleries looking to exhibit the work of Canadian artists whose artwork invites response through humour, intellectual intrigue, and emotional interaction.
“My goal is to produce art that inspires and heartens even the most jaded of us to act.”
Kelly Gough – Vancouver Island Assemblage and Performance Artist