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Aric Obrosey
Laura Sharp Wilson
January 10 - February 11, 2018


 
Since the early 1990s, Aric Obrosey has used lace imagery in his work, attracted to its structural complexity, intricate patterning, precise detail, and overall beauty. For Obrosey, lace serves as a metaphor for a bygone economy where consumer objects were laboriously created by hand, one by one, but are now machine-made and mass-produced.  For example, in the graphite drawing Iconic Fond, lace strands intertwine into a labyrinthine glove form, a symbol of labor.  Each strand is made up of distinct motifs that reference manufacturing, including advertising starbursts, automobile emblems, and micro-circuitry, and motifs that recall the handmade, such as Shaker bandbox fasteners, Chippendale brasses, and mandalas. Obrosey also incorporates artistic motifs referencing the paintings of Lichtenstein and Stella, as well as his own body of work. In the large-scale, cut-paper Detritus Doily, the artist employs a wide variety of lace motifs cut entirely by hand, using implements ranging from needles and surgical scalpels to a screwdriver.  The work was inspired by the 19th-century practice of sewing together scraps of lace to create a larger doily in the spirit of a “crazy quilt.”  In his most recent graphite work, the artist draws fields of varying lace patterns contrasted with bold swathes of brushstroke imagery, creating a collage-like effect.  In this marriage of opposites, traditional feminine associations of lace and the masculine bravura of action painting coexist and the hierarchy of painting over “craft” is leveled.  
 
Laura Sharp Wilson uses textile-inspired imagery to explore themes of domestic accumulation, familial bonds, and the search for true interpersonal connections within an increasingly superficial social structure.  Her interest in the aesthetic and social impact of material goods can be traced in part to contrasting décors of muted elegance versus mid-century modern that she observed in the homes of her grandparents, which in turn reflected their conservative versus liberal political views. Fabrics in particular fascinated Wilson from an early age, especially with their power to transform the domestic interior through rugs, curtains, and upholstery.  While her work uses the language of decoration and materiality, she always intertwines deep personal meanings within narratives of binding, constricting, enveloping, unraveling and reconciliation.  In her new drawings, Wilson depicts knotted threads combining into larger structures, which themselves weave in and out of a network of minimalistic shapes. For Wilson, the tension between coalescing and dematerializing forms reflects the struggle to define a personal place within a social hierarchy.  Other drawings feature a recurring central form with the proportions of a cell phone, yet the ubiquitous object itself is missing. Instead, its volume is implied by the negative space between looping coils, binding tendrils or an enveloping warp and weft.  
 
  Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace IV
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace IV, 2017
Graphite on paper
18 1/4 x 24 inches
Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace IV detail 1
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace IV, 2017
Graphite on paper
18 1/4 x 24 inches
DETAIL
Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace IV detail 2
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace IV, 2017
Graphite on paper
18 1/4 x 24 inches
DETAIL
  Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace V
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace V, 2018
Graphite and ink on paper
24 x 18 1/2 inches
Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace V detail 1
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace V, 2018
Graphite and ink on paper
24 x 18 1/2 inches
DETAIL
Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace V detail 2
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace V, 2018
Graphite and ink on paper
24 x 18 1/2 inches
DETAIL
  Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace VI
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace VI, 2017
Graphite and acrylic on paper
11 5/8 x 16 1/2 inches
Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace VI detail 1
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace VI, 2017
Graphite and acrylic on paper
11 5/8 x 16 1/2 inches
DETAIL
Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace VI detail 2
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace VI, 2017
Graphite and acrylic on paper
11 5/8 x 16 1/2 inches
DETAIL
  Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace III
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace III, 2016-17
Graphite on paper
10 x 14 inches
Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace III detail 1
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace III, 2016-17
Graphite on paper
10 x 14 inches
DETAIL
Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace III detail 2
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace III, 2016-17
Graphite on paper
10 x 14 inches
DETAIL
  Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace I
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace I, 2016
Graphite on paper
41 3/8 x 26 1/2 inches
Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace I detail 1
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace I, 2016
Graphite on paper
41 3/8 x 26 1/2 inches
DETAIL
Aric Obrosey, Painting and Lace I detail 2
Aric Obrosey
Painting and Lace I, 2016
Graphite on paper
41 3/8 x 26 1/2 inches
DETAIL
  Aric Obrosey, Detritus Doily
Aric Obrosey
Detritus Doily, 1994
Cut paper
51 x 48 inches
Aric Obrosey, Detritus Doily detail 1
Aric Obrosey
Detritus Doily, 1994
Cut paper
51 x 48 inches
DETAIL
Aric Obrosey, Detritus Doily detail 2
Aric Obrosey
Detritus Doily, 1994
Cut paper
51 x 48 inches
DETAIL
  Aric Obrosey, Iconic Fond
Aric Obrosey
Iconic Fond, 2015
Graphite on paper
22 1/4 x 30 inches
Aric Obrosey, Iconic Fond detail 1
Aric Obrosey
Iconic Fond, 2015
Graphite on paper
22 1/4 x 30 inches
DETAIL
Aric Obrosey, Iconic Fond detail 2
Aric Obrosey
Iconic Fond, 2015
Graphite on paper
22 1/4 x 30 inches
DETAIL
  Laura Sharp Wilson, Think Deeply
Laura Sharp Wilson
Think Deeply, 2017
Graphite and acrylic on paper collage
46 1/4 x 26 1/2 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Think Deeply detail
Laura Sharp Wilson
Think Deeply, 2017
Graphite and acrylic on paper collage
46 1/4 x 26 1/2 inches
DETAIL
Laura Sharp Wilson, Interruption
Laura Sharp Wilson
Interruption, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 10 inches
  Laura Sharp Wilson, Green Zig Zag
Laura Sharp Wilson
Green Zig Zag, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 10 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Lock Down
Laura Sharp Wilson
Lock Down, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 10 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Blue X
Laura Sharp Wilson
Blue X, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 10 inches
  Laura Sharp Wilson, Side Bundle
Laura Sharp Wilson
Side Bundle, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 10 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Night Sky
Laura Sharp Wilson
Night Sky, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
12 1/4 x 9 1/8 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Flax
Laura Sharp Wilson
Flax, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
12 1/4 x 9 1/8 inches
  Laura Sharp Wilson, Torso
Laura Sharp Wilson
Torso, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
11 1/4 x 10 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, In the Loop
Laura Sharp Wilson
In the Loop, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
12 1/4 x 9 1/8 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Fringe
Laura Sharp Wilson
Fringe, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
12 1/4 x 9 1/8 inches
  Laura Sharp Wilson, Heart
Laura Sharp Wilson
Heart, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
12 1/4 x 9 1/8 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Empty
Laura Sharp Wilson
Empty, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
12 1/4 x 9 1/8 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Teet
Laura Sharp Wilson
Teet, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
12 1/4 x 9 1/8 inches
  Laura Sharp Wilson, Fleshy Weave
Laura Sharp Wilson
Fleshy Weave, 2017
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
12 1/4 x 9 1/8 inches
  Obrosey Wilson installation 1
Installation view
Obrosey Wilson installation 2
Installation view
Obrosey Wilson installation 3
Installation view
  Obrosey Wilson installation 4
Installation view
Obrosey Wilson installation 5
Installation view
Obrosey Wilson installation 6
Installation view
  Obrosey Wilson installation 7
Installation view
Obrosey Wilson installation 8
Installation view
Obrosey Wilson installation 9
Installation view
  Obrosey Wilson installation 10
Installation view
Obrosey Wilson installation 11
Installation view
Obrosey Wilson installation 12
Installation view
  Obrosey Wilson installation 13
Installation view
Obrosey Wilson installation 14
Installation view
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