XAVIER KELLEY

Xavier Raymond Kelley is a 24-year-old Black artist from Seattle’s Central District, currently based in Portland, Oregon. His work has been featured on the cover of Elle Decor, exhibited widely in Seattle and New York, and is included in numerous private collections across the country. Kelley graduated from Seattle University in 2023, where he competed on the track and field team and earned a BFA in Visual Fine Art. His creative process draws from Black pop culture, academia, sports, and the marginalization of Black and Indigenous people. Visually informed by fine art, graffiti, collage, and cartoons, he creates layered, colorful narrative paintings that tell stories of identity, history, and lived experience.

stories of the complex black experience.

Artist Statement

Xavier Kelley's narrative paintings tell stories of human interaction and the experience of black
and indigenous bodies, using various mediums, aesthetic iconographies of ancient culture,
academia, sports, music, black culture, and art history. Informed by Afrofuturism, literature, Afro
Indigenous ancestry, and graffiti art, Kelley recontextualizes past histories through highly
saturated, idealized figures and glyphs, blueprinting future possibilities and actualizations that
have not previously been accessible to marginalized identities. Kelley pinpoints and animates
the ambition of ascension. Through splintered narratives and vibrating lines that hint at a colorful
language nearly within reach, Kelley creates his own ecosystem of an emergent future that
might already exist but requires thoughtful excavation.

“Sports is also used in my practice as a metaphor for the ways marginalized groups must
maneuver ‘athletically’ through society to achieve upward mobility. The wide-eyed BIPOC
cartoon characters illustrate a juxtaposition of childlike curiosity through the medium of cartoon,
while the subjects depict the anxieties and restricted autonomy of being Black/Indigenous in the
contemporary climate of America and the World. Motifs such as the pencil and pyramid
represent making a mark on the world through the act of creation. Animals represent childhood
fascination in my work, and a longing to connect more deeply with the natural world.” — Xavier
Kelley

Xavier Kelley is a painter based in Portland whose work was featured on the cover of Elle
Decor, exhibited widely in Seattle and New York, and is included in many private collections
across the country.stories of the complex black experience.

Solo Exhibitions

Winter 2022 — “2DVR” Museum of Museums, Seattle, WA
Spring 2022 — “Social Mediums” Axis Gallery, Seattle, WA
Spring 2022 — “Divine Interaction” WOW Gallery, Seattle, WA
Summer 2024 — Private Viewing Party, Portland, Oregon
Winter 2025 — “An XRAY Of The Sun” @ Weedman Design Partners
Spring 2025 — “Hoxton Hotel Activation” @ the Hoxton Hotel, Portland, Oregon
“Running Thru the Field,” a Solo Show by Xavier Kelley at Industry One Foundation

Group Exhibitions

Spring 2021 — “Going Thru thEMOTIONS” Columbia City Art Gallery, Seattle, WA
Summer 2021 — “Black Artists in Their Own Realm” Calabar Gallery, Harlem, New York City, NY
Fall 2021 — “3rd Annual Black Student Union Showcase” Seattle University, Seattle, WA
Winter 2022 — “After the Quiet: On Black Figures and Folds” Mini Mart City Park, Seattle, WA
Summer 2022 — “Hollaback to the Future” Museum of Museums, Seattle, WA
Fall 2022 — “Hollaback to the Future: New Algorithms” Museum of Museums, Seattle, WA
Spring 2023 — “A Tribute to Black Ingenuity and Excellence @ Domicile Design+Gallery”, Seattle, WA
Art Basel 2024 — “Black Creators and Creatives: New Realities of Being a Black Artist.” Bison at Basel Panel Discussion w/ Bisa Butler, Jewel Ham, and Paul Henderson
Summer 2025 — Displayed work at the grand opening of Cannonball Arts Space in downtown Seattle

Publications & Press

“Xavier Raymond Kelley Debuts ‘Going Thru thEMOTIONS’ at Columbia City Gallery”
South Seattle Emerald, March, 2021
https://southseattleemerald.org/arts-culture/2021/03/30/xavier-raymond-kelley-debuts-going-thru-themotions-at-columbia-city-gallery

“Mini Mart City Park, a converted gas station in Georgetown opens as a cultural center after 15 years”
The Seattle Times, February, 2022 (work is pictured in article)
https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/mini-mart-city-park-a-converted-gas-station-in-georgetown-opens-as-cultural-center-after-15-years/

Elle Decor September 2023 cover feature
https://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/house-interiors/a44690616/megan-rapinoe-sue-bird-house-tour/

Group Show at DOMICILE Gallery February 2023 in Madison Park, Seattle
https://queenannenews.com/news/2023/feb/22/the-art-of-athleticism-queen-anne-artist-merges-passion-for-basketball-with-artwork/

Press for Weedman Design Partners show, Portland Oregon, Jan 2025
https://www.weedmandesignpartners.com/gallery/event-one-hlj57

SHIFT Gallery Seattle Washington — First Thursday art walk exhibition
https://shiftgallery.org/2023/08/07/xavier-kelley-masai/