BOBBIE OLIVER
RESIDUALS
BOBBIE OLIVER Residuals
Bobbie Oliver - Residuals by Dike Blair One of the best aspects of the artist’s “job” is the exchange of studio visits. I’ve known Bobbie Oliver for about four decades, and I’ve probably visited her studio as often as any of my artist friends; and the visits have always been rewarding. So when Bobbie asked me to write something for her show, Residuals, it felt natural to think of the evolution of her paintings over time, and how her paintings address time itself. I imagine a flipbook of her work. The paintings from the 70’s evoked the Paleozoic Era; igneous looking surfaces with organic intaglio forms that resembled fossils, etched into them. Then, over the next 15 years or so, it was as if some intense solar light radiating from behind those surfaces (often they were encaustic), burned through the intaglio fissures, creating forms like continents or islands that floated in atmospheric seas. The forms were somewhat uniform and appeared in equally distributed clusters at first, and then later, they dispersed and became more individuated. During the first two decades of this century, the nature of the space in which the forms are suspended also evolved; thinning from gelatinous broths into aquatic seas, and then thinning further to resemble the recent metagalactic spaces. Also, for the last 20 years or so, individual series of paintings are done with very specific color palettes that shift from grays and beiges to more vivid lavenders, lemons, oranges, limes, and blues. So when I flick through my mental flipbook, I watch a Paleozoic earth break up into islands, spread apart, the islands come to resemble microorganisms or viruses that are suspended viscous seas that slowly evaporate into atmospheres, which then morph into deep space. Toward the second half of the book, the paintings’ colors shift, like aurora borealis, and the last page is blue, the color of the paintings in Residuals at High Noon, the subject of this catalogue. The light of the Residuals paintings is fluorescent-stellar-electric-blue. (The fact that a few years ago she installed banks of cool white fluorescent tubes in her studio may not have anything to do with the light of these paintings, but it did mean I was literally dazzled when I saw them there.) The paintings’ suspended, ultramarine blue forms might read as galactic clouds or as bacteria or viruses. Bobbie’s manipulation of scale and depth of focus allows one to oscillate between naming a form either a galactic cloud or a bacterium, which makes such naming both meaningless and fun, and is also somehow crucial to the success of the paintings. The fact that Bobbie only mixes
metaphors is a related pleasure when navigating these paintings. I find the ambiguities particularly heightened in the Residuals work, perhaps because Bobbie didn’t allow another color to enter, making the ultramarine a control group for experimentation with other variables. One thing that is usually immediately apparent to painters and perhaps less so to non-painters, is that Bobbie’s paintings are extremely rigorous. For the non-painter, the graceful washes might seem a matter of chance and the ambiguous floating forms to just happen, possibly by some chance procedure, all executed in a relatively short time. While chance certainly has a place in her process, that chance is heavily edited and manipulated. The paintings get built in layers; the layers get removed and applied again, and sometimes, again and again. The densities of the veiled washes might get tweaked with pigment and their relative volumes get turned up and down. She pays particular attention to the tension between the relative nothingness of the field and how the forms exist in relation to that field and to each other. I know she spends hours just staring at the canvas to be sure that all the relationships are working, working in the specific and idiosyncratic way that is collaboration of the artist’s hand and chance, and in obeyance to the specific laws that each painting (and often series of paintings) dictates. All of that takes time. Each painting invites me to spend a lot of time in it. And for me, some of that time is spent considering how an abstract painting can seduce one into considering deep space and time, and loving every minute of it.
Dike Blair is an artist who lives and works in New York City.
Untitled, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches following: Untitled, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 inches
Untitled, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 inches
Untitled, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches
Untitled, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 inches
Untitled, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 inches
Untitled, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches
Untitled, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 12 inches (each)
Untitled, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches
Untitled, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches
Untitled, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 22 inches (following) Untitled, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 22 inches
Bobbie Oliver b. Windsor, CAN
EDUCATION Center for Creative Studies, Detroit St. Alban’s School of Art, England SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2018 Residuals, High Noon Gallery, New York, NY CAS Arts Center, Livingston Manor, NY 2015 Valentine Gallery, Ridgewood, Queens, NY Hionas Gallery (with Alain Kirili), New York, NY 2013 Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada 2010 Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada 2007 Jancar Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Alliance Gallery, Narrowsburg, New York, NY 2006 Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada 2004 Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY 2003 Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada 2000 Sean Scully’s West Space, New York, NY
1999 Nameless Waters: the paintings of Bobbie Oliver 1993-1998, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo, Canada; Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Canada; Illingworth Art Gallery/Alberta College of Art, Calgary, Canada (catalogue) Lenore Gray Gallery, Providence, RI Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada 1996 Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada 1995 Lenore Gray Gallery, Providence, RI 1994 Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada 1993 Wheeler Gallery, Providence, RI Wolff Gallery, New York, NY 1991 Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada 1989 Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada 1987 Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada 1984 Freidus/Ordover Gallery, New York, NY 1979 Art Gallery of Southern Alberta, Lethbridge, Canada 1978 Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Canada Feigenson/Rosenstein Gallery, Detroit, MI “A” Space, Toronto, Canada
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2017 The Painted Desert Part II, High Noon Gallery, NY Group Show, Catskill Arts Society, Livingston Manor, NY 2016 Drawing, Kerry Schuss Gallery, New York, NY World Made By Hand, curated by Sam Gordon, Edlin Gallery, New York, NY 2014 Let’s Go Let Go, Jane Kim Gallery, New York, NY Le Show des Amis, Showroom, New York, NY 2013 Upfront, Feature Gallery, New York, NY 2012 Floating Explosions, The George Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2 person show with Mary Jones) Gang of Six, The George Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Slow Numbers, Showroom, New York, NY Connected, Feature Gallery, New York, NY Recent Acquisitions, Art Bank Collection, US Department of State, Washington, DC 2011 Bodybraingame, curated by Hudson, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL Summer Group Show, Feature Gallery, New York, NY 2010 Tenant’s Show, 106 Green Street, Brooklyn, NY, Curated by Vera Iliatova Power to the People, Feature Gallery, New York, NY 2009 May/December, Painting Gallery, RISD, Providence, RI, curated by Dike Blair 2008 Works on Paper, (Melissa Meyer/Bobbie Oliver) Lenore Gray Gallery, Providence, RI Cool and Austere, Jancar Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Benefit Auction, Dumbo Arts Centre, Brooklyn, NY 2007 Aljira Fine Art Auction, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, New Jersey Arts Desire: The Art Auction, Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO
2006 RISD Painting Faculty, Woods Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI Small Works, Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada 2004 Up and Off the Wall, Curated by Donald Sultan, Dumbo Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY 2003 Thinking in Line, University of Florida, Jackson, FL 2001 Guide to Trust #2, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA 2000 3ness, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium cur. By Dike Blair (catalogue) Re: Place, Planet Thailand, New York, NY 1999 Choice 99, cur. By Donald Sultan, Exit Art, New York, NY Abstraction, Nature Morte Gallery, New Delhi, India Mind’s Eye, Boothe Contemporary Art, Wakefield, RI 1998 The Fanelli Show, O.K. Harris Gallery, New York, NY Diverse Works, Urban Configuration, Starwood Urban Investments, Washington, D.C. 1997 So Much Deathless, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY, a curated installation by Peter Nagy Land, Forster/Goldstrum Gallery, New York, NY 1996 Image/After Image, The Work Space, New York, NY, curated by Paul Campbell (catalogue) In a Meditative Manner, E.S. Vandam Gallery, New York, NY Drawing, Nancy Solomon Gallery, Atlanta, GA 1994 East/West, E.S. Vandam Gallery, New York, NY (essay Sol Ostrow) Recent Painting, E.S. Vandam Gallery, New York, NY Addressing Surrender, Paolo Baldacci Gallery, New York, NY Contemporary Art in Rhode Island, Museum of Art, RISD (catalogue) Whateva, Dru Arstark Gallery, New York, NY
1993 Canadian Contemporary Works on Paper, University of Waterloo, Canada Group Show, Bomb Magazine Benefit, Fawbush Gallery, New York, NY The Bridge Has the Blues, Art Auction, Bridge Center for Contemporary Art, El Paso, TX A Celebration of Life, Mount Sinai Breast Resource Center, Auction, United Nations, NY Group Show, E.S. Vandam, New York, NY 1992 Group Show, Faculty, Rhode Island Museum of Art, Providence , RI Group Show, Spotted Dog Gallery, Old Chatham, New York, NY, curated by Holly Hughes 1990 Sooner or Later: Edward Albee’s Eye, Hillwood Art Museum, Long Island University, NY 1989 Group Show, 49th Parallel Gallery, New York 1988 17 at the Barn, Rosa Esman Gallery, New York, NY, curated by Edward Albee Group Show, Anne Plumb Gallery 1986 Fashion Moda Benefit, Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York, NY 1984 Parallels and Boundaries, Powerhouse Gallery, Montreal (catalogue) 1982 Artists from the Edward Albee Foundation, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY 1981 Viewpoint, Hamilton Art Gallery, Hamilton; Harbourfront Gallery, Toronto; Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa; Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor; Stratford Art Gallery, Stratford; Kitchener-Waterloo Gallery, Kitchener; Agnes-Etherington Gallery, Kingston; Rodman Hall, St. Catherines; Laurentian University, Sudbury, Canada (catalogue) 1980 Aspects of Canadian Painting in the 70’s, Glenbow Museum, Calgary (catalogue) Material Matters, Norton Art Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL; The Clocktower, New York, NY; The Spoletto Festival, Charleston, NC; Stamford Museum, CT, curated by Edward Albee (catalogue)
1979 Paperworks, Feigenson-Rosenstein Gallery, Detroit, MI A.C.T. Gallery, Toronto, Canada (two-person show) Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada (two-person show) AWARDS Canada Council Arts Award, “A” Grants Canada Council Arts Award, “B” Grants Canada Council Arts Award, Travel Grant Ontario Arts Council Award New York State Council for the Arts Grant Pollock/Krasner Award Rhode Island School of Design Faculty Development Grants BIBLIOGRAPHY Blair, Dike, “Arlene Schechet, Steve Keister, Bobbie Oliver, Ash Ferlito”, Zing Magazine, Issue 24, 2015 Rhodes, David, “Slow Spilling Movement: The Paintings of Bobbie Oliver”, Artcritical Magazine, October 2015 Frank, Peter: “Haiku Reviews”, Huffington Post, January 2012 Dillon, Noah: “Connected”, The Brooklyn Rail, February 2012 Thompson, Mimi: “Editor’s Choice: Bobbie Oliver”, BOMB Magazine, Summer 2009 Frank, Peter: “Hits of Ecstacy”, LA Weekly, May 2007 Dault, Gary: “Bobbie Oliver at Olga Korper”, The Globe & Mail, March 2003 Fiers, Els: “Museum Light”, Knack, Belgium, August 2000 Pieters, Rudy: “A Clear, Playful Threeness”, De Morgan, Belgium, August 2000 Laureyus, Jeroen: “Light, Airy and Transitory”, De Standard, Belgium, August 2000 Johnson, Ken: “Choice 1999”, The New York Times, December 1999 Murray, Joan: “Canadian Art in the Twentieth Century”, Durdurn Press, 1999 Dault, Gary: “Bobbie Oliver at the Olga Korper Gallery”, The Globe & Mail, June 1999 Reid, Robert: “Paintings evoke vague apocalytic feel”, The Record, Jan. 1999 Van Siclen, Bill: “Watery-smudge master”, The Providence Journal, Dec. 1998 Kissick, John: “A Tale of Two Painters”, Canadian Art, Fall 1996 Campbell, James: “Image/After Image”, catalogue May 1996 Van Siclen, Bill: “Art Wrap-up”, The Providence Journal, Oct. 1995 Slonin, Jeffrey: “In with the Out Crowd”, interview with Bruce Ferguson, Artforum, March 1995 Silberger, Kathy: “New York Artists”, Saison Magazine, Germany, 1994 Gersh-Nessie, Beth: “Bobbie Oliver, Paintings”, Art New England, Jan. 1994 Van Siclen, Bill: “Art Wrap-up”, Providence Journal, Sept. 1993 Mays, John Bentley: “Invoking a Sense of Place”, The Globe & Mail, Toronto, Mar. 1989
Loughery, John: “17 Years at the Barn”, Art Reviews, Mar. 1988 Raynor, Vivien: “Edward Albee vs. the Establishment”, New York Times, Aug. 1985 Zinsser, John: “Bobbie Oliver at Wolff”, East Village Eye, May 1985 Zimmer, William: “Review”, Soho News, 1980 Larson, Kay: “Review”, Village Voice, June 1980 Bell, Tiffany: “Group Show”, Artsmagazine, Apr. 1979 Murray, Joan, “Making a Fresh New Thing, 10 Painters”, Artsmagazine, June 1979 Purdie, James: “Gallery Reviews”, Globe & Mail, Toronto, Nov. 1978 Frank, Peter: “Review”, Village Voice, Jan. 1978 Bell, Tiffany: “Group Show”, Artsmagazine, Mar. 1978 White, Peter: “Juggling the Dimensions”, Globe & Mail, Toronto, July 1978 Rhodes, Ric: “Paintings that Hold their Ground”, Ryerson Review, Oct. 1978 Rhodes, Ric: “Sydney Drum and Bobbie Oliver at the AGO”, Artsmagazine, Nov.-Dec. 1978 Colby, Joyce: “Poems, Paintings”, Detroit News
Bobbie Oliver | Residuals March 14 - April 14, 2019 Edition of 100
Publisher: © 2019 Jared Linge HIGH NOON GALLERY
Art © 2017 - 2019 Bobbie Oliver Text © 2019 Dike Blair Photography: Adam Reich
All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, without prior permission from the publisher.
106 Eldridge St New York, NY. 10002 Hours: Wednesday - Sunday 11-6 highnoongallery.com
cover (detail): Untitled, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 inches