La Presa - Kelly

2022   Oil on handmade wooden panels 65cm x 75cm

Power has aways been held in the hands of a few. Historically white, usually male.

And to immortalise this power they used art laden with symbolism: robes, jewels, crowns, sceptres - and even stances and hand gestures.

Utilising the gestures of divinity, learning, strength, in this his triptych the hyper-masculine past is inverted. As a symbol of femininity, handbags may be clichéd, sure. But carrying this accessory is a rare public deportment before which machismo shrivels.

La Presa, Italian for The Grip, defines power.
The Grip to seize power.
The Grip to maintain power.
The Grip to project power.
And it’s loss is eponymous for transition of power.

Because the future will not be male, pale and stale.