Kevin Connelly Gillespie “Ghosts of Our Future”

Kustera Projects Red Hook

[Image: Kevin Connelly Gillespie "Robert Loves Rhinos" 2018, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 46 x 57 in.]

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KUSTERA PROJECTS presents Ghosts of Our Future, an exhibition of paintings by South African born artist Kevin Connolly Gillespie.

It’s hard to imagine the impending extinction of the Earth’s wild creatures as a possible reality. In time, our relationship with the animal kingdom will be reduced to that of nostalgia where the power, majesty, and awe of these revered creatures will only exist in photos, moving images, and consumer products. Kevin Connolly Gillespie sounds the alarm on Africa’s endangered species and the sacrifices Wildlife Preserve Rangers make in protecting them and their habitats. His paintings illustrate the plight of these iconic big game animals, such as the rhinoceros and the elephant, set in complex geometric patterns that are loosely based on Ndebele tribal paintings.

The loss of these animals is due in large part to poaching, sport hunting and the harvesting of their ivory and horns as trophies and medicines. In ‘Trophy 1’, a highly reflective chromed elephant skull, symbolic of high luxury, sits upon a patterned background of Yuan symbols, the Chinese version of the US dollar. On closer inspection of the skull, a live shooter can be seen amongst the reflected landscape inciting a sense of doom. Gillespie hopes to foster an alternate value to these tremendous animals through the use of their image rather than the loss of their lives. The exhibition will comprise of several mixed media paintings set in an immersive, deeply symbolic diorama.

Kevin Connolly Gillespie was born in 1975 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He studied visual arts at the Central Johannesburg TVET College and in 1996, relocated his studio to Cape Town where he exhibited in numerous group and solo shows. In 2000, Gillespie moved to Brooklyn, NY, where he now lives and works.