OHT Gallery Boston

Previous Exhibits

Drawings and a Sculpture

Patrick Strzelec

September 8 - October 7, 2006
Reception: Friday, September 8, 5:30-7:30pm

O·H+T gallery is pleased to open its new, first-floor space with an exhibition of drawings and sculpture by Patrick Strzelec. The show will include new rubber drawings that Strzelec introduced in his solo exhibition at the Michael Scultz Galerie in Berlin in May of this year, as well as new sculpture.

Strzelec's silicone platinum drawings derive from his processes of mixing, coloring, pouring, and dripping, so that each shape documents the gesture used to make it. Intrigued by the spatial aspects of communication, Strzelec focuses on the voids between elements in the drawings as well as the dialogues between the forms themselves. In one untitled piece (at right), four caramel spirals, each with a tomato soup colored appendage, engage in a conversation that is animated by their relative proximity and distance. As with any group of four, the tendency to break off into pairs is apparent, yet the foursome remains intact. Although it would be easy to project metaphorical meaning onto these drawings, Strzelec's intention is to demonstrate the reality of abstract relationships.

A direct relationship between Strzelec's drawings and his sculpture can be seen in shared themes of communication, navigation, and division. An untitled floor piece consists of two dish-like spheres, each containing a long, tube-shaped form folded into a pile. One piece is yellow, the other red. Following a winding path between them, the viewer participates in their dialogue. A second sculpture, consiting of a long s-shaped arch with a baby blue seat on each end, allows two people to communicate while still keeping their distance.

Patrick Strzelec lives in New Jersey and works in rural Pennsylvania. During the past year he has exhibited exclusively in Germany at Michael Scultz Galerie in Berlin, Galerie Rackey in Bad Honnet, and "Art Koln." Strzelec has been awarded the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowhip, the Rome Prize for Sculpture, and a National Endowment for the Arts grant in Sculpture. His work is included in private and public collections both nationally and internationally. This is his third one-person exhibiton at O·H+T.