photo credit: Freddie Wiss
A boisterous preview night. here's the card and the image list.
And the article in the Boston Globe
The Boston Globe 3/12/14
New space in Watertown
By
Cate McQuaid
Un-Mapping
the Air: Bob Oppenheim, Carol McMahon, Ted Ollier
At: Room 83 Spring,
83 Spring St., Watertown. www.room83spring.com
Artists Ellen Wineberg and Cathleen Daley have opened a new
project space next door to Drive-By Projects in Watertown. They’re reluctant to
call it a gallery. “We’re artists for artists,” says Daley.
Their first show, “Un-Mapping the Air,” is spare,
uncluttered, and deeply moving. It’s all about foiling expectations. Large is
made small. Something tactile and present somehow conveys absence.
Bob Oppenheim’s painted panels stitched and splayed with
loose threads are delicate with breathy hues and barely visible lines. They
might map the cosmos, or the underside of a piece of embroidery. They pull you
in close with their hints and whispers, weaving a net of memory and longing.
What’s there feels like traces of what has gone.
Speaking of cosmic, Ted Ollier’s silkscreened pulsing
concentric circles with pools of color at their core are simplified visions of
planets and their rings. They read like objects of meditation, icons that draw
you into the center. “Planetary Rings, Uranus” has a small pale blue circle at
its center, and the rings around it imply distance. “Planetary Rings, Neptune”
has a larger, turquoise core, and fewer rings. Where Uranus recedes, Neptune
seductively rises to meet us.
Carol McMahon explores the dark side of domesticity with
white-washed doll houses. “Homefront” is nearly empty, upside down and askew,
with stray boxes and a white-painted doll’s hat resting on its upturned
foundation. God knows what damage came to this home, from within or without, to
leave it so bereft.
We were featured in an artscope eblast by Lacey Daley:
2/27/14
Greetings!
This blast is full of what we like to call innovators. The
folks of these exhibitions are opening new art spaces, displaying life-size
artwork and debuting the entire realm of a renowned artist's work—all of which
we consider to be trailblazing efforts. So whether you consider them pioneers
of paint or theme or space, they're all trying something a little different,
which is always worth checking out.
Un-Mapping The Air at Room 83 Spring
in Watertown, Massachusetts today through April 10th
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Arts without exception, it's all about the conversation—that's
the tagline for a new art venue opening in Watertown and we think they've got
the right idea. Room 83 Spring
is a space for art and a studio for projects and events that promote
experimentation and process, hosting a mix of creative disciplines, provocative
installations and engaging discourse. Artists Cathleen Daley
and Ellen Wineberg
launched Room 83 Spring, located at 83 Spring Street between Common and
Main Streets and adjacent to the venerable Drive-By Projects Gallery,
as a project to foster and celebrate other artists. For years, the duo has been
looking for the perfect spot to open an alternative, inclusive art space, and
starting tonight, they get to do just that. The debut exhibition, Un-Mapping
The Air, features the paintings, assemblages, prints and video of Bob Oppenheim,
Carol McMahon
and Ted Ollier. The
featured artists work to undo the scaffolding and disrupt the foundation of all
concepts familiar, shaking our every expectation and turning them inside out. Oppenheim
is Professor Emeritus at Simmons College
and former director of the Trustman Art Gallery.
He is represented by Miller Yezerski Gallery.
McMahon exhibits at Bromfield Gallery,
where her last two solo shows were Age of Un-Reason and Home Front.
Ollier also exhibits at Bromfield Gallery, is Press Master at Harvard University's
Bow and Arrow Press
and teaches at Harvard Extension
and the New Hampshire Institute of Art. Un-Mapping The Air opens tonight, Thursday, February
27th and will be on view through Thursday, April 10th. A reception
will be held on Sunday, March 9th from 3-5pm. Room 83 Spring
is open every Thursday from 12-4pm, and by appointment. As for future shows and
exhibitions, the venue will combine painters and sculptors with authors,
artisans, poets and more. With art on the wall and off, Room 83 Spring
ensures that compelling conversations will ensue. Join their talks now by
liking them on their Facebook page.
and a capsule preview by Brian Goslow:
In
the march/april 2014 artScope:
It’s been gratifying to see a number of new
galleries opening up in the New England region in recent months. As we went to
press, Ellen Wineberg and Cathleen Daley opened the doors to their room 83
spring gallery, which they call, “A site for experimentation and process.” The
space is intended to host a mix of creative disciplines, provocative
installations and engaging exchange. “We are artists who wish to
foster and celebrate other artists. Arts without exception, it's all about
the conversation.” Room’s first exhibition, “Un-Mapping The Air,” featuring
works by Bob Oppenheim, Carol McMahon and Ted Ollier, continues
through April 10 at 83 Spring Street, Watertown, Mass.
Find us on facebook at ROOM 83 Spring!
