NEW YORK, NY.- Ronin Gallery welcomes Daniel Kelly back to New York for Full Circle, his first solo exhibition in the city in more than two decades. Bringing together prints, paintings, and preparatory works spanning over forty years, the exhibition celebrates his inventive approach to art and the enduring relationship with Ronin Gallery that began in 1985.

An internationally recognized American artist based in Kyoto, Kelly is represented in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the British Museum; the Smithsonian Institution; and others. Selected in close collaboration with the artist, Full Circle includes impressions of his prints held in major museum collections, pieces of personal significance, and recent creations. Also included in the exhibition are preparatory paintings and studies that offer a closer look at the ideas and experiments behind the finished works.

Born in Idaho Falls, Kelly studied at the University of Portland and Portland State University before moving to San Francisco. There, he worked in glass and mosaics and studied painting with Morton Levin. He later settled in Kyoto, where he studied traditional woodblock printmaking with Tomikichiro Tokuriki. These foundations opened the way to an increasingly adventurous exploration of technique, materials, and form.

From glowing lanterns and ripening fruit to sweeping landscapes and intimate portraits, Kelly transforms familiar subjects through unexpected combinations of media. Woodblock printing, lithography, painting, and collage meet in works that play with texture, scale, and the perception of depth. Handmade papers and antique book pages become active parts of the composition, inviting viewers to look closely at how each image is constructed.

In her foreword to Daniel Kelly: An American Artist in Japan, novelist Banana Yoshimoto captures this process: “he consumes and digests the beauty of an object, holding and appreciating it within himself until he has absorbed it. Then, through masterful use of advanced techniques, he completes a new work of his own.”

This transformation of observation into invention runs throughout Full Circle. Preparatory paintings for Buttercups and Three and One, presented alongside their corresponding prints, offer insight into the development of the images and the dialogue between Kelly’s painting and printmaking. Early works and recent pieces reveal an enduring willingness to experiment and to push the expressive possibilities of his materials.

Since introducing Kelly’s work in 1985, Ronin Gallery has maintained a continuous relationship with the artist. His work is woven into the gallery’s story and Full Circle honors that shared history while celebrating the energy and ambition of Kelly’s work today.