OHT Gallery Boston

Previous Exhibits

Do You Remember...?

New Paintings
Jennifer Riley

September 7-29, 2007
Reception: Friday, September 7, 5:30-7:30pm

O·H+T Gallery is pleased to present Do You Remember...?, an exhibition of new paintings by Jennifer Riley. In this new work, Riley continues her investigation of color and abstraction while she also acknowledges the residual influence of her early landscape paintings.

The atmospheric stripes that Riley is known for are now condensed and distilled into lines of varying width and color intensity that weave among flat shapes to form complex patterns. Untitled (Mirror, Mirror), a large diptych, depicts a field of interconnected pieces, split down the middle to create a Rorshachesque effect. Jumpy and unsettled, the space in the painting shifts from 2-D to 3-D like a fun house mirror that has been broken and reassembled.

Throughout her career Riley has been interested in the spatial relationships found in landscape. Early, minimal landscape paintings evolved into hazy, horizontal bands that suggested horizons. Even Riley's experimental installation pieces were anchored by the line where floor and ceiling meet, so it's not surprising to see a return to a landscape orientation in her newest work. Landslide (right) and Do you remember Mt. Vesuvius? shift away from overall pattern towards a figure/ground relationship. Heaps of interlocking shards are piled in the foreground of both paintings, with pale, sky-like backdrops beyond. New titles allude to disasters and historical events, introducing a new element of narrative content. As with all her painting, these works are beautifully executed. Lines are hand painted, with subtle fluctuations in color and weight that lend an organic warmth to Jennifer Riley's geometric lanscapes/abstractions.

Jennifer Riley is a Boston artist who has relocated to Brooklyn, NY. She has a BFA degree from the School and the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University, and a MFA degree from Bard College. Riley has exhibited extensively including Edward Thorp Gallery, NY, Boston University, and Hirshl and Adler Gallery, NY. She has taught at Pratt Institute, Rutgers University and Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Riley also writes art reviews for the New York Sun and the Brooklyn Rail. This is her first one-person exhibition at O·H+T Gallery.