Creation of the Waters, by Robert Kelly

Born and raised in New Mexico, Robert Kelly is influenced by Native American and Latino-Mexican cultures which are rich in beliefs, symbols, and rituals. He writes of how forms and symbols become deeply personal through the process of painting—“not breaking away from their sources, but maintaining meanings.” Regarding Creation of the Waters, he recalls visiting a Cistercian monastery where “everything was pared down” save the “primitive renderings of leaves and motifs relating back to creation of the waters.”