Moore Finds Freedom of Expression in Art
Fri, Jul 5, 2002
Labeled an 'Outsider,' Painter Still Working, Selling Successfully

By Amy Cotham

The Morning News/NWAonline.net

FAYETTEVILLE -- "Since the first of the year, I've done between 200 and 300 paintings," Kelly Moore says. Choosing a relative few for his first solo show, the artist adds, was "really difficult."

"Inside Out," an exhibit of Moore's paintings, is on display through Aug. 8 at the Anne Kittrell Gallery in the Arkansas Union on the University of Arkansas campus. The exhibit offers up colorful, whimsical works created by Moore's approach to art as an "outsider." According to his Web site at www.kellymoore.net, "outsider art" refers to the creative output of people who have little or no formal training in art and who work outside the boundaries of convention.

Yet even with an unconventional approach to art and artistry, Moore doesn't seem to regard the label "outsider artist" with too much importance. "I don't get into defining outsider art," he says. People are often looking for ways to categorize things, however, and with Moore's lack of formal training, it's the category in which he is most easily placed. "So suddenly that's what I am," Moore says.

Though he avoids compartmentalizing his paintings, Moore does fit the outsider artist profile. "I have no education in art, and I have no art background," Moore says. The benefit to that, he thinks, is, "I have no rules, regulations or 'proper approaches' to things."

Moore does have one guideline, however: "Never, ever think when you paint. If I tried to figure it out how to do a good painting, all would be lost."

Of course, "If (my work) meshes with someone else's idea of what a good painting is, that's nice," he adds.

People do seem to appreciate Moore's work. The artist has sold numerous paintings in major U.S. cities as well as international venues in France and Canada, and he is scheduled for an exhibit in Paris next spring. Gallery owners and private collectors have been intrigued by Moore's paintings. Some, whom he calls "loyal customers," like Moore's work so much they buy his paintings in bulk. One Moore fan recently bought 40 pieces at once.

Moore began painting six years ago, "so I'm far from an overnight success, that's for sure," he says. The artist is appreciative of the growing interest in his work. "It's really, really important to me that people respond," Moore says. "It wouldn't be nearly as fulfilling (otherwise)."

Still, Moore has an intensely personal and emotional connection to his paintings, and he jokes that sometimes it's hard to let particular pieces go. "They're always buying the ones I want," the artist says. "They're always taking my babies." And while selling paintings is nice, "life is not all about money," Moore adds. That's something he learned when he made the transition from working in real estate to being an artist. To Moore, the business world "paled in comparison to painting in terms of something that was real."

Painting "is just a mesmerizing thing for me," Moore says. "It's a lot like meditation; it's a complete detachment from the physical. It's an opening of your consciousness. It's a gradual awakening as I go through.

"I don't know what I'm doing until I finish," Moore adds of creating a new painting. "My thing is raw, intuitive expression."

Moore's palette includes only "the brightest colors I can find on the face of the earth," he says, and his paintings often incorporate raw media such as sand or tin foil. Most recent has been an fascination with painting on brown paper grocery sacks. "In the Garden," part of the "Inside Out" exhibit, is a gouache and acrylic painting on wood that includes a T-shirt belonging to Moore's ex-girlfriend.

"I had to get rid of it," Moore says with a laugh. It is just another indication of the escape painting provides for the artist.

"People tell me 'you are such a controlled person, but your artwork is so free and wild'," Moore says. "Art is a very spiritual activity for me."