Kelly Duffield: Same Same

Artist Reception: Saturday, September 11, 2021 | 4-7 pm PST

Artist Statement

The five large paintings titled Same Same, as well as the name of this exhibition, borrow their titles from the 2019 novel of the same name by Peter Mendelsund. The protagonist in the book attends an international artists’ residency of sorts in a far away desert. While there, he discovers the Same Same shop where the shopkeeper has the mysterious ability to replicate and even make better any item brought into the shop.

I was listening to this audiobook while working on the first of my 42” x 40” paintings, which was based on one of my more intimately sized (11.5”x 10.5”) collage/mixed media works. As I listened to the story of the Same Same shop, I thought, well here I am making my own Same Same. The novel was difficult to get through (as was that first large painting). It was hard. It was sad. It made me consider hard questions about art and creating. It warned against emptiness and meaninglessness in creating … in life. I have carried on working in this larger scale. Initially, I continued to “same same” my smaller completed mixed media pieces. In 2021, however, I began creating new collage-driven narratives that I took straight to the canvas. Contrary to the “same sames” in the novel, my Same Sames have developed to be ever more personal and full of meaning. The smaller pieces in this exhibition are bits of nostalgia for me. They are a dear and essential part of the evolution of my work. 

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