Main Page								Teddy Kell

Walls

My fascination with structures dates back to a truly amazing art class I had in my freshman year at Tamalpais High School in Marin County. We had professional level instruction in perspective, and I loved it. Pictures with walls also fit right in with my viewpoint from the sky in flying dreams.
 
The other part of it involves a very long period of trying to make peace with my desire to be alone to make art and think, and my equally strong desire to fly free and to be with the people I love. This led to lots of drawings of people behind walls and then running amok.
 
Moon Village was a wall painting which I enjoyed very much because it allowed me to drift off entirely into that other world while I was painting. I was each of the people as I painted them.
 
A collector once said: "And how you pull out of the air, and of yourself, and make real, these marvelous unique images that no one has even imagined before." I am often astonished myself at what has emerged. That's maybe the artist's way of managing too much real life. Cheaper than booze or drugs.
 
Time Passing was the result of my immersion in studying solar house design. I loved watching the world change as the sun moved by.
 
Family Maze was an analysis of my relationship with each of my adolescent children. My suite was the gray one in front. It gave me complete access to one child (the youngest) and limited access to the two older ones. This was very useful in later years as relationships changed, reminding me that - relationships change!
 
Man in the Picture 2 was the result of a question from a viewer (male): why don't you ever have men in your paintings? Great question, and I did three paintings about it and then started including men as a matter of course.
 
Into the Smooth Roundness, Pool, and Maze with Banners all combine walls with water, which affects me so profoundly that it gives me quivers in my stomach, like great live jazz. I'm scared to try to figure that one out.