Kelly Shami | “Missed Connections”

Press release

Long Story Short Paris is pleased to present Missed Connections, a solo exhibition of paintings by New York-based painter Kelly Shami.

Kelly Shami has always painted flowers, but it wasn’t until she put piercings on them that she saw herself. Within these seemingly unlikely visual elements, Shami found the means of self portrait—a way to explore belonging, nostalgia, and romance in all its open ends. Missed Connections is a survey of recent paintings, where Shami depicts private scenes, lush textures, and her signature—the petals softness, pierced and adorned.

Shami, the daughter of Syrian-and Lebanese Immigrants, culls visual information from her heritage and memories of her father’s office on jewelers’ row in New York. Iconic piercings of the 2000’s, such as barbell studs, are joined with pendants and talismans native to the Middle East, such as the nazar. Both decorative and protective, Kelly pierces flowers—a symbol of care and impermanent beauty—which she paints with lush textures and masterful detail.

A studded orchard unfurls before a train-car door in Rockaway, the setting sun casting an orange glow behind the soft white petals—the flower becoming like a figure. In Studio Visit, a rose blooms amidst swirls of fluorescent paint on a palette, merging subject and painterly process. In Barely Even Friends, a rose depicted under glass alludes eerily to solitude. Departing from her flower subject matter, but staying true to theme, is Level (Self Portrait) in which the artist depicts herself in a bubble bath, floating just above the surface. In Missed Connections, it is as if piercings move from her body through the brightly colored flower petals; piercing through the past, Shami presents a realm where she is fully present and embodied, even when only traces remain, like reflections on the surface of polished metal and stone.

b. 1991 Kelly Shami is a first-generation artist of Syrian and Lebanese descent born in New Jersey. She resides and works in New York City.