Opening Reception with the Artist
First Friday, November 6th, 6 - 8:30 pm
In the Vault Room:
"Installation / Rabbit Hunt" by Paul Oberst
The Bridgette Mayer Gallery is pleased to announce its second solo exhibition of artist Paul Oberst. Ceremonial Objects, Devices & Forms will be on view from November 3 – 28, 2009, with an opening reception First Friday, November 6th, from 6:00 - 8:30 pm. The exhibition will feature 15 standing and hanging sculptures and five paintings. Also on view in the Vault Room will be a site-specific wire and sculpture installation by Paul Oberst, titled Installation / Rabbit Hunt.
Paul Oberst's current body of work represents a significant conceptual shift from his previous ritual-like iterations of symbolic architectural forms. Featuring fifteen human scale sculptures, in Ceremonial Objects, Devices & Forms, Oberst departs from his strict meditation on the temple form, instead conceiving of the show as a collection of "objects removed from within the imagined temple interior." Indeed, Oberst's work remains within the realm of the spiritual and in this sense, the works' titles are telling: unruly wire and coarse wood are fashioned into Ceremonial Shields, Masks, Instruments and Talisman that line the gallery walls. The rustic colors of the sculptures contrast with the vibrant, summery fluorescents appearing in paintings that tend to mask, rather than highlight, the temple form in thick impasto, such as Temple Elevation / Pasguale's Orange Creme. Surfacing on a number of sculptures, 23K gold leaf distinguishes these objects as artifacts of consequence that link our lives and culture to those of the past. States the artist, "I find I am drawn to wiring things together, tying together disparate elements that might have had a most casual relationship, and tapping into the strings, fabric or lines of energy that constitute (whether metaphorically, spiritually or physically) the infinite universes we inhabit."
Paul Oberst received his BFA from Center College in Kentucky in 1977 and was awarded a residency Fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center (Provincetown, MA) in 1982. Recent solo shows include Roots and Tendrils Gallery (Belfast, ME), AEGON Gallery / Jones Visual Arts Center, (Danville, KY), Waterfall Arts Center (Belfast, ME), and Stux Gallery (New York, NY & Boston, MA), among others. Paul Oberst lives, works and teaches in Belfast, ME.
Gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m. & by appointment. For additional information please contact Bridgette Mayer at (p) 215-413-8893 (f) 215-413-2283