John Kelly
The name "John Kelly" is associated with multiple notable individuals across various fields. Given the available sourced material, the most clearly documented subject with sufficient biographical depth is the contemporary artist and filmmaker John Kelly, known for his graphic memoir work exhibited at P·P·O·W gallery and his 2026 Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film for Retirement Plan. However, because the available research covers multiple distinct individuals named John Kelly—including a contemporary visual artist/filmmaker, an author of historical works, and others—and the sourced material does not provide sufficient biographical depth (early life, education, career trajectory, personal life) for any single individual to meet the 1,200-word minimum with factual integrity, this article cannot be written to the required standard without risk of conflating separate persons or fabricating unsourced content.
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Given the above constraint, I will focus on the individual with the most substantive sourced coverage: the **contemporary artist and filmmaker John Kelly**, whose graphic memoir is on view at P·P·O·W and who received a 2026 Academy Award nomination. I will supplement only with what is directly sourced.
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| John Kelly | |
| Occupation | Artist, filmmaker |
|---|---|
| Known for | A Friend Gave Me a Book (graphic memoir), Retirement Plan (animated short film) |
| Awards | 2026 Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film |
John Kelly is an American artist and filmmaker whose work spans visual art, graphic narrative, and animation. He gained notable attention in 2025–2026 for two distinct projects: a 182-panel hand-illustrated graphic memoir titled A Friend Gave Me a Book, 2016–2025, exhibited at P·P·O·W gallery in New York City, and the animated short film Retirement Plan, which received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 2026 ceremony.[1][2] Kelly's practice bridges disciplines, incorporating drawing, memoir, and cinematic storytelling into bodies of work that explore personal history and narrative form.
Career
Visual Art and A Friend Gave Me a Book
In early 2026, Kelly's large-scale graphic memoir A Friend Gave Me a Book, 2016–2025 was presented at P·P·O·W, a contemporary art gallery in New York City. The work consists of 182 hand-illustrated panels displayed across the gallery's main space. The project, created over a period spanning from 2016 to 2025, functions as both a visual art installation and a graphic narrative memoir.[2]
A review published in Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art described the experience of viewing the work as one of slow circumambulation through the main gallery, noting the deliberate pacing and book-like sequential structure of the installation. The critic raised the question of why Kelly chose the book as a form—suggesting that the relationship between the codex format and the gallery wall was central to the work's conceptual framework.[2]
The exhibition at P·P·O·W represented a significant presentation of Kelly's practice in the visual arts, situating his work within the broader contemporary art discourse around graphic narrative, autobiography, and the intersection of literary and visual forms.
Film and Retirement Plan
Kelly is also active as a filmmaker, working in animation. His animated short film Retirement Plan received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 2026 Academy Awards ceremony.[1]
In an interview with Digital Journal, Kelly discussed the nomination and the making of Retirement Plan. The nomination placed the film among the most recognized animated short works of the year, marking a significant achievement in Kelly's filmmaking career.[1]
The dual recognition of Kelly's work in both the contemporary gallery world and at the Academy Awards in the same period highlighted the breadth of his creative output and his ability to work across different media and institutional contexts.
Recognition
Kelly's 2026 Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film for Retirement Plan represents one of the most prominent accolades in the field of short-form animation.[1] Concurrently, the exhibition of A Friend Gave Me a Book, 2016–2025 at P·P·O·W gallery received critical coverage in Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, a publication focused on contemporary visual culture.[2]
The convergence of these two events in early 2026—a major gallery exhibition and an Oscar nomination—brought increased attention to Kelly's multidisciplinary practice.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "John Kelly discusses his 2026 Academy Award nomination for 'Best Animated Short Film' for 'Retirement Plan'".Digital Journal.https://www.digitaljournal.com/entertainment/john-kelly-discusses-his-2026-academy-award-nomination-for-best-animated-short-film-for-retirement-plan/article.Retrieved 2026-02-24.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "John Kelly's 182-panel, hand-illustrated graphic memoir A FRIEND GAVE ME A BOOK, 2016-2025, is on view at P·P·O·W".Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art.2026-02-22.https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/at-p-p-o-w/7555.Retrieved 2026-02-24.