Niall Kelly

I explore emotion as a physical and visual force — how feeling becomes mark, texture, and language. I paint intuitively, allowing emotion to dictate rhythm and composition rather than theory or precision. Words, symbols, and gestures merge to form open narratives that invite reflection rather than resolution.

I often work on found materials — cardboard, wood, or discarded surfaces that already hold traces of use and time. Their imperfections become part of the emotional landscape, grounding the work in lived experience.

Influenced by neo-expressionism and text-based conceptual art, my practice sits between control and chaos, thought and instinct. Each piece is both confession and observation: an attempt to make the intangible experience of feeling visible.

Moment in time, National Gallery of Ireland