Highlights from the Boston Art Book Fair

Earlier this month we participated in the 2022 Boston Art Book Fair put on by the Boston Center for the Arts. It was an exciting opportunity to explore the galleries, artists, collectives, and creatives in our city. Check out some of our favorite booths we saw:

Boston Art Review

The Boston Art Review brought an assortment of issues to purchase. It was wonderful to see AOG artist Pelle Cass’ work featured at another booth at the Book Fair. Cass’ photograph is featured on the cover of Issue 03: Tracing Movement.

bostonartreview.com
Instagram: @bostonartreview

View of the booth for the Boston Art Review in the Cyclorama at the Boston Center of the Arts.

Praise Shadows Art Gallery

Praise Shadows had a mix of books, posters, and other art objects to check out. We were excited to see one of our new favorite books, Designing Motherhood, out on the booth’s spread. It was a great opportunity of visitors to get a taste for what this growing gallery has to share with the Boston art community.

praiseshadows.com
Instagram: @praiseshadowsart

View of the booth for Praise Shadows Art Gallery in the Cyclorama at the Boston Center of the Arts.

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston

The ICA Boston had a selection of prints, books, and merchandise to choose from. We loved checking out the current exhibition book, To Begin Again: Artists and Childhood. The work of Barbara Kruger and Dr. Woo were showcased on apparel, as well as prints of Jordan Nassar’s work that is currently on view in the exhibition Jordan Nassar: Fantasy and Truth.

icaboston.org
Instagram: @icaboston

View of the booth for the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston in the Cyclorama at the Boston Center of the Arts.

Adri Tan

It was great getting to chat with Tan about their process and learn more about their work. Tan uses portrait photography to explore identity and authority of self. Digital textile patterns are created by restating the body into repeating patterns in the zine, I Objectify Myself to Subvert Your Gaze. The textile becomes an object, allowing for the portraits of the artist’s East Asian models to reject the stereotypes and to yield autonomy of themselves. In another zine, Fashioning a Sense of Self, Tan's photographs reclaims and explores the identities of women and non-binary people of color by allowing the models to wear what they felt most themselves in. We can’t wait to see what else they will be working on next!

adriannatanphotography.com
Instagram: @atangerinee

View of Adri Tan’s booth in the Cyclorama at the Boston Center of the Arts.

Paige Mehrer at Plum Press

We are delighted by the work of Paige Mehrer of Plum Press. Her whimsical images are enchanting and there mystical blues and purples of her palette drew us in!

paigemehrer.com
Instagram: @paigemehrer

View of Paige Mehrer’s section of the Plum Press booth in the Cyclorama at the Boston Center of the Arts.

Kareem Worrell

We got to have an engaging conversation with photographer Kareem Worrell about his photograph and practice. At his booth he presented the zine, Passenger, which features Polaroids from the passenger seat of a pivotal road trip he took at the beginning of his career. He told me that he had lost the photographs from the trip for over 15 years, but thought of them often. This body of work inspired a new series call Lonely Highway that documents views from the passensger seat once again. His book, Mile Marker, is a part of the ongoing he was selling at the fair. The book showcases seventeen years worth of images that capture the ever-changing landscapes and unique atmosphere that only occurs on the open road.

kareemworrell.com
Instagram: @kareemworrellphoto

View of Kareem Worrell’s booth in the Cyclorama at the Boston Center of the Arts.

We were thrilled to exhibit three of our represented artists: Pelle Cass, Cassandra Jones, and Kristina McComb, alongside these talented creatives in Boston. It was a great opportunity for us to connect with our Boston community in a way we had not done before, and the whole team felt excited and energized by the fair - we are so grateful for all of the amazing visitors we had. Through a collection of prints, books, and small sculptural work, we showcased new and returning work by each artist: prints by all three artists gained excitement while Cass’ and McComb’s newly released books were a hit. The remaining inventory is still available for purchase on the buy now page for the fair.

Gallery intern Lauren Hill and Assistant Director Kaylee Hennessey at the booth

Announcement: Boston Art Book Fair

Abigail Ogilvy Gallery is pleased to announce our first year of participation in the Boston Art Book Fair. The event is located in the historic Cyclorama of Boston’s South End neighborhood. The fair will showcase local Boston artists, creators, and businesses to connect Boston with the national art community, and facilitate connections between Boston creatives and prospective publishing partners.

Dates: November 4-6, 2022
Friday Eve Ticketed* Preview Party (preview offerings, dance party, film screening, food & drinks): 6pm-9pm
*Tickets are $30 and can be purchased here.
Saturday: 12pm-7pm: Free and open to the public
Sunday: 12pm-5pm: Free and open to the public
More details: https://bostonartbookfair.com/

Pelle Cass, “Thalia Beach Friday No. 2,” 2019, Ink print on heavy matte, 13 x 19 in. (Ed. of 15) 24 x 36 in. (Ed. of 10) 40 x 60 in. (Ed. of 3)

Abigail Ogilvy Gallery is pleased to present three of our represented artists at the Boston Art Book Fair: Pelle Cass (Brookline, MA), Cassandra Jones (Ojai, CA), and Kristina McComb (Gill, MA). We look forward to sharing an array of books, prints, and art objects by each artists. These artists share a special interest in the message produced by the relationships in their images. Along with this common curiosity, Cass, McComb and Jones each bring new life to their medium by combining traditional photography with a contemporary lens.

Pelle Cass constructs his compositions using a large collection of photographs taken from the same angle. He does not manipulate the original photography other than deciding which objects to omit and keep, and each component of the photograph remains in its same location in the overall composition. These choices produce an image conveying a sense of chaos and the passing of time. At the Boston Book Art Fair, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery will be presenting his new book “Pelle Cass” alongside prints from his series, Crowded Fields.

Cassandra Jones, “Lemon Ball,” 2019, Archival Ink Jet on 100% Cellulose, 24 x 20 in

Kristina McComb, “Boston Atheneum 2040,” 2021, Photograph - framed, 9 x 6 in, 36 x 24 in, 42 x 28 in

Cassandra Jones takes a different approach to the idea of repetition by collecting and collaging mostly found photographs into a work that comments directly on contemporary society. Their digital photography tells stories of a prismatic reflection of our self-involved, technology-based, snap-happy contemporary lifestyle. Their work will be available as prints at the Boston Art Book Fair.

Kristina McComb’s work explores the passing of time, similar to Pelle Cass’s images, as well as the relationships created from light, line, and texture. Differing from the work of Jones and Cass, McComb does not alter the objects in her images, simply capturing the existing in a striking composition. Her practice focuses on the intersection of photography and sculpture. At the show, we will be exhibiting her photographs from her ongoing series featuring the Boston Athenæum in addition to her most recent publication “An Archive of Time: A Life Lived in the Boston Athenæum” .

For more information about the Boston Art Book Fair, please click here.

Press Release: Size Matters

July 20 - August 28, 2022
Allison Baker | Holly Harrison | Cassandra C. Jones | Coral Woodbury

Installation view, Cassandra C. Jones and Allison Baker in Size Matters

Abigail Ogilvy Gallery is proud to present Size Matters, featuring gallery artists Allison Baker, Holly Harrison, Cassandra C. Jones, and Coral Woodbury. These four artists play with scale, quantity, and implicative imagery – sometimes subtle, sometimes overt. Size Matters is dedicated to the constituents; the parts that make up the whole; the pieces that come together to form something larger than the sum of its parts. Demonstrated by the materiality and thematic functions of the work, each artist engages with the idea of collective power in their own way. Embodied first individually, and then reinforced as a group, the exhibition is a force to be reckoned with in a way that aims to radiate the power of united women.

Allison Baker, Still Life of Lives Past and Present: propagation, 2022. Coloraid on coldpress paper. 24 x 18 in.

 Allison Baker’s color-blocked, still-life collages are created using layered coloraid on coldpress paper. Often working towards a reclamation of domestic spaces, Baker’s work seeks to investigate hegemonic femininity as a site of transgression and resistance. Her work playfully engages scale as a cue to surreality, or that not all is as it appears. The artist’s use of familiar objects – a matchbook, cleaning products, an oyster – create the feeling that something is not quite right and the syrupy artificiality of Baker’s color palette only reiterates this feeling. The objects themselves, recognizable and utilitarian, become devoid of their intended use - a beer bottle becomes a vessel of propagation; a book of matches spills match sticks that bend and contour like fabric; and a pile of melting ice cream sprouts hairy legs to become endearingly anthropomorphic. 

Cassandra C. Jones, Double Barrel, 2019. Archival inkjet on cotton rag pearl. 30 x 20 in. Ed. 1 of 2

 Similarly, Cassandra C. Jones’ plays with humor and scale in her work, skillfully rendering images out of scaled down objects and often using the repetition of a singular element to form something entirely new. Her artworks are a reflection of consumerism on our individual images and on our environments. The three cacti in the exhibition are undeniably phallic from afar, but as with all of Jones’ work, closer inspection reveals the curious components of the image: in this case, beach balls. This series was a response to wildfires in California that sent microplastics into the air, soil and water, resulting in a colorful super bloom of flora. Jones intends to render the ease in which our natural world absorbs the objects we delight in.

 Coral Woodbury’s artwork is rooted in the reclamation of power. An artist and art historian, Woodbury has spent the past two years tearing through an original copy of Janson’s History of Art, a prominent textbook that completely omitted women until Janson’s death in 1986 – and painting the images of the artists made purposefully absent in this history. There is an undeniable power in numbers, and Woodbury’s aim to rework every page of the text perfectly illustrates this.

 Holly Harrison’s exploration of avian motifs stems from a simultaneous appreciation for both the strength and fragility of her subject matter, as she delicately renders each individual bird to create a synchronized, and intermingled flock. The viewer is left with a snapshot of a murmuration, with a collective of birds flying gracefully across the horizon line. As with each of these compelling artists, the work reminds us that we are stronger together; that there is strength in collective power and organized movements; and that when we are a part of something larger than ourselves, none of us are ever truly alone.

Holly Harrison, True Blue, 2022. Mixed media and found papers on wood panel. 36 x 60 in.

— 

Allison Baker earned her MFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design, a BFA in Sculpture and BA in Gender Studies from Indiana University. Her work investigates hegemonic femininity as a site of transgression and resistance. Allison clawed her way into higher education with a thesaurus and words she cannot pronounce; currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Sculpture and Studio Art at Hamline University where she tries to impart some knowledge of finesse, persuasion, and manual labor.

 Holly Harrison lives and works in Concord, MA. She received an MA in creative writing from The City College of New York and a BA from Wesleyan University. Her artwork has been featured at galleries and museums throughout the country and is held in private and corporate collections nationally and internationally. Additionally, she has curated two well-received shows at the Concord Center for the Visual Arts, where she was subsequently invited to join the Board of Trustees.

Coral Woodbury, Eileen Agar, 2022. Sumi ink on book page. 11.375 x 8.625 in.

 Cassandra C. Jones was born in Alpine, TX (USA) in 1975 and lives and works in Ojai, CA. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with an MFA in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts and received her BFA from California College of Arts with a concentration in Photography/Glass. Jones has been awarded artist residencies in Germany, the Czech Republic, Canada, and across the United States, and her work has been exhibited both throughout the United States and in Europe. Select recent exhibitions include: Digital Worlds: New Media from the Museum’s Collection, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX (2018), The Awakening, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Boston MA (2017), Ritual and Desire, Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS (2017). She has received several awards and residencies, including the Egon Schiele Art Centrum, Drake Hotel Artist Residency, Invitational, Toronto, Canada (2006), and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment awarded by the Virginia Center of Creative Arts (2004).

 Coral Woodbury is an historian and as an artist who critically reinterprets Western artistic heritage from a feminist perspective, bringing overdue focus and reverence to the long line of women artists who worked without recognition or enduring respect. Her work reclaims space for them, bringing women together across time and place in art that recasts and re-crafts the story of art. Coral has long worked internationally, beginning with a residency in Italy with Rosenclaire, her mentors for 30 years. She has been honored with a grant from the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities, and has exhibited at Opening Press Week of the 58th Venice Biennale, the Taragaon Museum in Kathmandu, and in the unsanctioned #00Bienal de la Habana in Cuba. In 2020 her work was selected for Area Code art fair.

Art in Nature: Cassandra Jones at Taft Gardens

Cassandra C. Jones: Woah and Wonder
May 29 - July 31, 2021
Ojai, California

Cassandra C. Jones at Taft Gardens. Image taken by Marc Alt.

Abigail Ogilvy Gallery is proud to announce the opening reception of Woah and Wonder featuring artist Cassandra C. Jones. Hosted by The Conservation Endowment Fund (CEF), the exhibition takes place at the Taft Gardens and Nature Preserve in Ojai, CA, from May 29 - July 31, 2021. A longtime resident of Ojai herself, Jones approached Taft Gardens with the idea for a residency in which she would fully immerse herself in their 15 acres of South African and Australian horticulture for five months. Now the inaugural artist in the Art in Nature Residency, her culminating collage, and wallpaper works will be on view in the Taft Art Studio for a two-month exhibition..

Image courtesy of Cassandra C. Jones

The series she has been developing during her residency started in 2018, a year after the Thomas Fire burned over 500 homes and structures in the surrounding areas of Ojai. When she and her family returned from evacuation and saw the charred landscape surrounding their home, she was interested in what was left behind. All of the technology, plastics, and modern-day conveniences that burned, rose into the air in enormous clouds of smoke and rained down as harmful chemicals and nano plastics, concealed in a blanket of ash. She soon learned that humans have dusted the entire planet with tiny plastic particles, and scientists are now starting to understand how plants are absorbing them on a subatomic level. The resulting collage works depict the natural world, inspired by the flora of Taft Gardens, infused with the physical stuff of humanity.

“I spend just as much time walking alone on the grounds as I do in the studio, which has been time well spent. This last year has been a challenge on many levels. My time in the garden has been a kind of mental mending. Watching intently as a season changes and witnessing new life emerge on a macro, and a micro-scale is cathartic. The garden has new gifts every day. There is so much I would never have absorbed with one or two passes.” - Cassandra C. Jones

Contact us directly for more information about the May 29th opening reception of Woah and Wonder: abigail@abigailogilvy.com

Image courtesy of Cassandra C. Jones

About the Art in Nature Residency at Taft Gardens:

Taft Gardens are a one-of-a-kind experience that have inspired visitors for over 30 years. Art In Nature is a new program capturing the spirit of our long-standing mission to “Explore the relationship between humans and their environment.” The Taft Gardens Art in Nature programming works to illuminate the vision of growth and understanding of ourselves and others through the experience of beauty in the natural world. The Art in Nature Residency provides artists the opportunity to develop and explore new works with a broadly environmental and ecological focus. CEF/Taft Gardens invites the residency artists to explore the relationship of humans to their environment. Artists are encouraged to depict the variety of cultural and natural resources of the local ecosystem and wildlife. 

Residencies include the artist's use of the Historic Art Studio to work and draw inspiration from the surrounding grounds and open space. The residency will conclude with an exhibition of work, with 20% of the proceeds of sales going to the CEF/Taft Gardens.  - Courtesy of https://www.taftgardens.org/art-in-nature

Image courtesy of Cassandra C. Jones.