This spring, ANITA ROGERS GALLERY will present an exhibition of work by Morgan O’Hara from three distinct series: TIME STUDIES, LETTERPRESS EDITIONS and SILVERPOINT. Simultaneously, Mitchell Algus Gallery and Magdalena Keck Gallery will present three other series: LIVE TRANSMISSION DRAWINGS, PORTRAITS FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY and HANDWRITING THE CONSTITUTION. Together, the solo exhibitions at the three galleries will provide unprecedented insight into the artist’s body of conceptual work. The opening reception at Anita Rogers Gallery will take place on Wednesday, May 1, 6-8pm. The artist will be in attendance. Guest curator and exhibition designer Mitchell Algus.
TIME STUDIES
An attempt at understanding the meaning of life yielded a process begun by observing closely and making a visual and color-coded accounting of how personal time was spent. TIME STUDIES yielded daily reports, monthly summaries, ends of the year reports, etc. The large body of work was carefully studied at the end of 10 years. Since the conceptual base for the work was strong, there seemed to be only two alternatives: end the process and identify it as a 10-year work, or make a lifetime commitment to it. I chose the latter and the process is now in its 47th year. Daily statistical recording continues in small notebooks. Color coded recordings, beyond the statistics, are done during circumscribed periods of time, i.e. a two-month residency, a clearly defined segment of time.
LETTERPRESS EDITIONS
I made my first letterpress piece in 1978 in French: Le desordre est une forme d’art while teaching in the French-American bilingual school in San Francisco. Over the years I have done letterpress work in Polish, Czech, Italian, Hungarian and English, most often for an installation or performance. In 2016, thanks to residencies at the Emily Harvey foundation in Venice, I have done special editions in Italian. The most elaborate editions are PERDUTO E TROVATO A VENEZIA and ITSELF using 100 year old handcarved wooden letters, printed at La Bottega del Tintoretto in Canareggio with master printer Roberto Mazzetto and with the collaboration of Pier Paolo Pregnolato of Damocle Editions. Editions of 12 with detailed colophon pages, signed and numbered.
SILVERPOINT DRAWINGS
I was asked to make drawings with silverpoint for an exhibition. I painted white watercolor paper with black gesso and drew silver points on the black ground, each one pointing in a different direction, image and concept becoming one and the same.
- Morgan O’Hara
O’Hara received the Lee Krasner Award for Lifetime Achievement as an artist in October 2018 and her work is in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The National Gallery in Washington D.C., and The British Museum in London among many other institutions worldwide.
PORTRAITS FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY and HANDWRITING THE CONSTITUTION will be on view at Mitchell Algus Gallery April 27 - June 2. Magdalena Keck Gallery is exhibiting LIVE TRANSMISSION DRAWINGS at Roll and Hill February 27- May 13.
On Saturday, May 4, Anita Rogers Gallery invites the public to join us for a session of HANDWRITING THE CONSTITUTION from 2:30-4:30pm. We will have copies of documents created to protect human rights, pens and paper to share. There will be a reception hosted by Magdalena Keck Gallery immediately following the session at the nearby Roll & Hill showroom from 4:30 – 6pm.
For further information and photographs, please contact Elizabeth Thompson at elizabeth.thompson@anitarogersgallery.com, or call 347.604.2346. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday 10am – 6pm.
