Exhibitions On View
David Olivant: Out of Joint
February 2 – 26, 2023
Opening Reception: Friday, February 3,
6:00-8:00 PM
Amos Eno Gallery is pleased to present Out of Joint, a solo exhibition of recent works (Retroglyphs) by David Olivant - on view February 3 through February 26, 2023. The opening reception will be on Friday Feb 3 from 6- 8 at 56 Bogart Street in Brooklyn, across the street from the Morgan Ave L train stop.
This show is Olivant’s first in NYC after his debut here at the Center for International Contemporary Arts. Kay Larson, sent to review the “New British Painting” at the Queen’s Museum for New York Magazine, wrote; “David Olivant made me rethink my stereotypes of British artists, the “New British Painting” is bound up in sentiment.” She asserted that Olivant’s work looked “fresh and unorthodox” and that “By contrast, American painters of Olivant’s generation seem to falter over the technical issues with depressing frequency”.
Fast forward to 2015 and this is what Mark Van Proyen, Donald Kuspit’s successor, had to say of Olivant’s recent work - “its achievement lies within a canny balancing of charm, pathos and absurdity that uses figurative fragments to slyly suggest how each of these aspects is a function of the others… making them comparable to the figures painted by Robert Colescott or R.B. Kitaj—only here, they are players in much more complicated narrative dramas that are open to a far greater number of interpretations.”
In a 2022 catalog essay Van Proyen states of the characters in Olivant’s recent work- “They live in a Sartrean hell of programmatic indifference, impassively seeking salvation from a runaway complexity that changes guises while moving in rhetorical circles. Nonetheless, it is their hell… “
David Olivant earned his MA at The Royal College of Art in London. He was recipient of a British Council Scholarship to India and has had solo shows in New Delhi, NYC, Chicago, Dusseldorf, Santa Fe, and San Bernardino. Olivant moved to the US in 1991 and taught at CSU-Stanislaus for 25 years. He now lives in Santa Fe NM.
Image: David Olivant, Backed Like an Elephant, mixed media on digital photograph on Stonehenge paper, 22 x 30 in., 2021.
Jennifer Van: Sessions
February 2 – 26, 2023
Opening Reception: Friday, February 3,
6:00-8:00 PM
Amos Eno Gallery is pleased to present Sessions, a solo exhibition of works by Jennifer Van on view February 2nd through February 26th, 2023. The opening reception will be on Friday, February 3rd from 6 - 8pm at 56 Bogart Street in Brooklyn, across the street from the Morgan Ave L train stop.
Van’s photography contemplates themes of time, fragmentation, and identity. Her recent work explores her personal experiences through the use of her body. By turning the camera towards herself, Van’s work looks to highlight the ephemeral moment.
Van stated, “The human form has always been at the center of my work, because although our understanding of ourselves and each other is mediated by culture, preconceived notions, and biases, it is through our bodies that we learn to negotiate our own identities and how we are perceived.”
Jennifer Van (1993 –) grew up in California’s Central Valley and lives in Los Angeles, CA. She is currently the director of Strata Gallery in Santa Fe New Mexico, and is pursuing an MFA in Photography and Related Media at the California Institute of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited throughout California and New Mexico. This is Jennifer Van’s first solo show in New York City.
Image: Jennifer Van, Resonance, Archival Pigment Print, 11 x 17 inches, 2022.