GLASGOW.- An exhibition of solo and collaborative work, produced away from the office and clients, by Ben Kelly.

Kelly is the principal of Ben Kelly Design, an award-winning Interior Design practice based in London, founded in the mid-1970s. BKD built their reputation producing high-profile and innovative spaces, including Manchester’s legendary night-club The Haçienda. In Glasgow, Ben Kelly designed the interiors of Bar Ten (1991) and DLC (Glasgow) (1991) on Mitchell Lane.

As a practitioner Ben Kelly has collaborated with Peter Saville, DJ Simpson, Michael Marriott, Morph, Graphic Thought Facility and Ted Walters.

The ‘International Orange’ of the title comes from a colour reference from a specific range of paints. When BKD were doing projects in Manchester for Factory Records and Tony Wilson, they always specified International Orange for each job. Shortly before Tony Wilson died he told Ben that the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was painted International Orange.

‘Please Shut the Gate’ refers to Ben Kelly’s increasing interest in the history of the land and land ownership. For The Haçienda nightclub design, BKD brought inside roadside bollards and cats’ eyes into the territory of the nightclub. For this exhibition a series of transformed objects including a five-bar farmer’s gate, a walking stick, two coracles and stiles that bring ideas about the countryside and how we access it, into the gallery space.