OHT Gallery Boston

Previous Exhibits

New Works on Paper

David Kelley, Conor McGrady, Chris Nau,
Mark Lawrence Stafford

January 4 - 26, 2008
Reception: Friday, January 4, 5:30-8pm

O·H+T Gallery is pleased to begin 2008 with an exhibition of new works on paper and drawings by David Kelley, Conor McGrady, Chris Nau, and Mark Lawrence Stafford.

David Kelley's quasi-abstract drawings from his series Flat Talk Walks, explore the area between what you think and what comes out of your mouth. Diagrammatic combinations of shape and line, these cartoon-like works use symbolic language to map out imaginary conversations between colorful, semi-figurative blobs. Inspired by the incomplete bits of dialogue heard while passing in public spaces, Kelley gives us humorous, hypothetical visualizations of what more lengthy exchanges could look like.

Conor McGrady's black on white drawings focus on the role of authority in contemporary society. Uniformed figures, iconic architecture, and rural landscapes play supporting roles in McGrady's depiction of a stark world where symbols of stability and permanence possess an aura of shadowy malevolence. Informed by an interest in the manifestation of power, social instability, and the dark side of what we often take to be healthy social institutions, McGrady's work has a power that belies its simple, straightforward presentation.

Mark Lawrence Stafford's Drift Documents are produced exclusively with a standard Coronamatic typewriter. As he repeatedly types the line, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," Stafford creates lines, patterns, and tonal areas that "evolve as a drift until memories are evoked which inform their composition." Conscious of the task-like nature of his process, and the role that the quaint fox and dog phrase played as a measure of skill on typing tests, Stafford transforms an efficiency exercise into a creative tool and a monotonous act into an active meditation.

Chris Nau also explores the confluence of diametric concepts in his drawings on paper and on panel. Nau's renderings of hypothetical structures floating on white grounds are marred by destructive, gestural paint marks and/or slashes. Ironically, the destructive marks are more visceral and physically real than the slightly sci-fi, pencil-drawn constructions which describe more believable forms. Like a spark in a void, the resulting merger of these antipathetic elements energizes Nau's spare works.