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Kelly Carmody
A portrait of a woman in an apron, a rooster held in one arm, a glove held in her other hand.

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Finalist

Woman with Rooster
Collection of the artist

Kelly Carmody’s years of study in classical realism, including two years at New York City’s Art Students League, have given her an enviable ability to summon references to Diego Velásquez, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, and other European masters. And yet her paintings, tiny still-lifes and full-length portraits, are clearly contemporary, merging the traditional with the quotidian and a dose of wit. The sideways gaze of her subject (a fellow artist in a residency program on a New York farm), the heavy work glove, and the rooster’s dangling, bone-white claws all create a sense of immediacy and humor. Carmody noted, “We worked at night with the help of the farmers when the rooster was most docile. He posed very nicely.”