Kelley Proaps

Broken

Artist Statement

Inspired by theological and empathetic themes, my work takes the large and alien to the meek and humble. Working primarily with oil paint, I explore figure and style as a language for tackling and understanding divine realities. In a state of grieving, I asked why? In a state of loneliness I asked, “what did I do”? In a state of brokenness, I asked “what for”? These are the questions everyone asks in a fallen world, and none of us have the perfect answer. What Broken aims to do is reveal a cursed, broken state of being. By plainly showing the effects of fallenness internally and externally, a divine truth is thereby revealed. Creation has been groaning under the suffering of a fallen world, but through Christ we are restored and delivered from this state into the kingdom of Christ. The work is more than depravity and sin, but a hope for restoration and beauty in humanity. What’s more, we are made alive out of a dead world. My thesis takes the theological mist and brings it into the world of mundane, revealing strokes, splotches, and scrapes behind an unveiled present reality.

A photo of the artist.

Girl hunches over in chair typing and facing lit screen. She is surrounded by papers, grades, stress, and chaos; an allegory for work as a broken concept.

Burn Out, Oil Paint, (30”x40”), 2023

Girl hunches over in chair typing and facing lit screen. She is surrounded by papers, grades, stress, and chaos; an allegory for work as a broken concept. Elderly man wears mask sorting through an infinite amount of pill bottles, counting the endless physical pains that a broken world might bring.

Countless, Oil Paint, (36”x40”), 2023

Elderly man wears mask sorting through an infinite amount of pill bottles, counting the endless physical pains that a broken world might bring. Pregnant woman holds empty blanket while solemnly staring at hands. Engulfed in an ominous atmosphere, she is surrounded by a lone pacifier and cascading stars.

Hope: Lost and Found, Oil Paint, (48”x60”), 2023

Pregnant woman holds empty blanket while solemnly staring at hands. Engulfed in an ominous atmosphere, she is surrounded by a lone pacifier and cascading stars. Hands reach out from a dark void scratching away the anxieties of a broken world. A self-portrait.

Scratch, Oil Paint, (30”x40”), 2023

Hands reach out from a dark void scratching away the anxieties of a broken world. A self-portrait. Guy slouches in chair holding game controller and facing lit screen. He is surrounded by wrappers, cans, and chaos; an allegory for work as a broken concept.

Sloth, Oil Paint, (30”x40”), 2023

Guy slouches in chair holding game controller and facing lit screen. He is surrounded by wrappers, cans, and chaos; an allegory for work as a broken concept. Two Hands tightly grip the form of a chair. Phasing into focus, they represent the tight grip of anxiety and depression.