Piper O'Neill - Marking time

Piper O’Neill marking time

January 8 - February 27, 2014 opening reception: Wednesday, January 8, 6 - 8 pm

203 Dexter Avenue North Seattle, WA 98109

206.652.5855

gallery@winstonwachter.com

Piper O’Neill Marking Time January 8 – February 21, 2014 Winston Wächter Fine Art is pleased to present Marking Time, our second solo exhibition with Seattle artist Piper O’Neill. Please join us for the opening reception with the artist on Wednesday, January 8, from 6-8 pm.

Piper O’Neill’s work transports the viewer to a nostalgic past, with a contemporary eye towards the fleeting quality of time. While her first body of work focused on Victorian girls and their games, this new series is composed of imagery from Depression-era America and the iconography of the time. Inspired by carnival chalkware prizes from the early 20th century, Marking Time includes O’Neill’s signature collaged work, along with bronze works and light sculptures of cowboys, Kewpie dolls, inane animals and other popular iconic personalities.

O’Neill came in contact with chalkware figurines and string holders through the collections of Dale Chihuly, a consummate collector of twentieth century pop culture objects. Original chalkware was hand-painted by carnival workers as they traveled city to city. Often a suitor would win one for his girl to carry around and show off his skill. O’Neill’s attraction to these mundane, throwaway collectibles is found in their fleeting quality, mimicking the passage of time.

One thread in O’Neill’s work is to use dress pattern tissue as a canvas, incorporating a unique visual lexicon of images into each piece. This imagery acts as a connective link throughout the entirety of her work, layering the imagery underneath and around the central figures. Stars, spiders, and flowers, along with stitched elements and red thread unite the various works.

Pivotal in this exhibition is, “Don’t Fence Me In,” an installation of multiple bronze cowboys cast from original chalkware, measuring 7’ x 6’. Bookending the show is a large neon sculpture over custom wallpaper installation of a pistol-wielding cowboy titled, “The Lone Stranger.”

The Lone Stranger, 2013, Neon and aluminum, 3’7” x 4’6” x 2.5 inches

Carnival Prize, 2013, Collaged tissue, 62.5 x 43 inches

Beau, Collaged tissue, 50 x 38 inches

Pageant Winner, 2013, Collaged tissue, 57.75 x 45 inches

Black Rabbit, 2013, Collaged tissue, 50 x 38 inches

Dale’s String Holders, 2013, Collaged tissue, 62 x 46 inches

Boop, 2013, Collaged tissue, 50 x 39 inches

Majorette, 2013, Collaged tissue, 58.25 x 45.5 inches

Bell Hop, 2013, Collaged tissue, 57 x 48 inches

Don’t Fence Me In #1, 2013, Bronze & Mixed Media, 26.5 x 18.5 x 9 inches

Don’t Fence Me In #2, 2013, Bronze & Mixed Media, 26.5 x 18.5 x 9 inches

Don’t Fence Me In #3, 2013, Bronze & Mixed Media, 26.5 x 18.5 x 9 inches

Don’t Fence Me In #4, 2013, Bronze & Mixed Media, 26.5 x 18.5 x 9 inches

Don’t Fence Me In #5, 2013, Bronze & Mixed Media, 26.5 x 18.5 x 9 inches

Don’t Fence Me In #6, 2013, Bronze & Mixed Media, 26.5 x 18.5 x 9 inches

Don’t Fence Me In, Chrome #1, 2013, Bronze & Mixed Media, 26.5 x 18.5 x 9 inches

Don’t Fence Me In, Chrome #2, 2013, Bronze & Mixed Media, 26.5 x 18.5 x 9 inches

Don’t Fence Me In, Chrome #3, 2013, Bronze & Mixed Media, 26.5 x 18.5 x 9 inches

Don’t Fence Me In, Chrome #4, 2013, Bronze & Mixed Media, 26.5 x 18.5 x 9 inches

Don’t Fence Me In, Chrome #5, 2013, Bronze & Mixed Media, 26.5 x 18.5 x 9 inches

Don’t Fence Me In, Chrome #6, 2013, Bronze & Mixed Media, 26.5 x 18.5 x 9 inches

For more information, please contact the gallery

203 Dexter Avenue North Seattle, WA 98109

206.652.5855

gallery@winstonwachter.com