PAVEMENT MAGAZINE - Kelli Bickman

Illustration by Kelli Bickman

see more of Kelli's work

Introduction by Ben Monk

Darkness and death permeate much of Kelli Bickman's work. Never have these themes been so comforting, fun, and joyful as when I've been hanging out at her apartment. Of course, not all of Kelli's work dwells in dark, sad, hellish spaces. There is a balance. It's the balance - the perfect contradiction - the duality, duplicity, doubles - that I see. Darkness, clouds, obscurity. Lightness, suns, clarity. The sight of a large dead cockroach imprisoned in what Kelli calls assemblages. Spin head from entrance wall to bedroom wall. Her Gustav Klimt styled Queen of Hearts. The former - masochistic, torture. The later - fun, playful, full of color. This is an interesting contradiction. Why does it comfort me? Maybe I'm just glad I wasn't in that world. Or am I? Maybe it's because her apartment is the exact midpoint on sixth avenue between P.S. 41 on West 11th and my favorite basketball court in the world on West 4th. These two places are where I first went to school and played basketball respectively, in 1977. That time was both uplifting and a tragedy at the same time, both personally and in the world around me. The summer of Sam, the Yankees, the blackout - that's all anybody talked about. And I'd just arrived from Australia, so it was a magical time. Full of terror. Extremes. Color. Colour. This is Kelli's work.

I live in Los Angeles but I love visiting New York. Strike that -- I live in New York but am currently stuck in Los Angeles so broke I can't get back to New York. Recently through a lucky twist of fate, a taped theater production of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus needed editing. The director bought me a $325 round trip airline ticket and I was back home. I needed a cool title card made for the project. Titus is a play full of carnage, rape and torture, so naturally I thought Kelli would be perfect for the project - my excuse for endlessly hanging out at her pad!

I always visit Kelli's apartment in the West Village. This art of hers is all over her walls. She says it's either that or write a journal. Wow! I'd like to read that journal. Note to self: steal ideas from Kelli's intricate paintings. I'm scanning the walls and floors.... a crowned blue lady surrounded by skulls basks in the pale light of a quarter moon. What the hell does that mean? Who cares. It's blue, it's cool, and it's great to look at. Like watching a movie with multiple story lines. Below and to the left endorphins pop. How do I know? I can see a high couple holding hands. Her artwork is dark. Mostly. Yet light. Contrary tonal emotionalism and duplicated alter egos. Got it? Not possible - must see...

All of a sudden I see a flash of light to my right. Kelli's gigantic computer screen comes to life. She says, "Look at this...Neil bought it." Skulls line the bottom of the screen. Hmmm. Is Neil an influence? I wonder. Are you (the reader) familiar with the work of fantasy writer Neil Gaiman? Look him up on your search engine and know this: Kelli used to be a personal assistant and chef for him and his family when she was in college. Her artistic formative years? I think Neil is a major influence. This of course is just my opinion; just a theory. My penchant for literal-rational interpretations of ambiguous-subjective themes continues. I'll try to be more intuitive and less hyper-rational.

When I first met Kelli she was doing a solo show of her black and white photography in a cool Soho Gallery (Four Color Images). Since then, she's published a book of her photos (What I Thought I Saw), had several gallery shows of her paintings and assemblages, taught a workshop at the Walt Whitman Birthplace on Long Island, published her illustrations in more than a few magazines, and acted as camera woman and editor for a cable TV show. She is multimedia and she's quiet and shy and tall and a redhead (sometimes red - it changes color). If you don't have the luxury of hanging out at her apartment as I do, you can visit her work on her web site at www.kellibickman.net.

It's worth a visit.

Photograph by Ned Schenck

www.kellibickman.net

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"Kelli Bickman's work taps into and reflects the aesthetic of the scavenger in all of us. That part of us that makes us draw mustaches on newspaper photos and tack photos to our cubicles. More than that, Kelli's pieces draw on a level of recognition beyond the automatic or mundane and illicit thoughts of grand American mythologies that have surpassed verbal dissemination."
- Dave Bias, Knitting Factory, NYC

"Bickman's mixed media constructions are stunning. Technically meticulous and aesthetically audacious."
- Ellen Datlow, Year's Best Fantasy and Horror

"Kelli Bickman's work catches the eye with a rare blend of intrigue and charm. She manages to combine found objects - a critter's skull, and insect wing, a guilt angel pin - wth a sure sense of composition to build unorthodox icons of the imagination. Bickman can be disturbing, but is never ugly. She makes are which engages the mind while looking good on the wall."
- Charles Laurence, London Daily Telegraph