LA based artist Kent O’Connor’s paintings of carefully arranged objects are less still lives than just ‘objects on a table,’ explains Mendes Wood DM Gallery, where the artist is also showing portraits, landscapes from a residency in Alberta. The fruit, animal head and bottle in ‘Zebra Between Two Objects’ are carefully chosen and arranged but difficult to connect or interpret; the painting is nevertheless eye-catching for its dramatic lighting and the sense that the zebra is in motion, rearing upward, despite being immobile. The head’s precarious balance– which we’d more likely encounter oriented vertically on a wall, not horizontally as here – along with a placid, almost peaceful expression and the bubblegum pink table frame are unexpected elements that keep the eye moving around this unusual and arresting interior scene. (On view through Aug 5th in Tribeca).
Tag: LA artist
Jonas Wood at Anton Kern Gallery
LA-based artist Jonas Wood builds his paintings from photos, sourcing them in the digital. At the same time, his memories supply more details as in this painting of his father’s house in Boston in which the bird and flower paintings are depicted as Wood remembered them from childhood rather than how they actually are. (At Chelesa’s Anton Kern Gallery through Oct 19th).
Jonas Wood, Yellow Front Hall, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2013.
Ricky Swallow in ‘Mind is Outer Space,’ at Casey Kaplan Gallery
Used archery targets, repaired flea market antiques, still life paintings and more inform LA-based artist Ricky Swallow’s practice of putting everyday objects through a series of transformations. Here, bronze vessels cast from cardboard and applied with what looks like a ceramic glaze conjure lily pads and Aladdin’s lamp. (At Chelsea’s Casey Kaplan Gallery through Aug 2nd).
Ricky Swallow, Staggered Vessel with Rings, patinated bronze, 2013.