O'Born Contemporary

Exhibition

Rendezvous

Group Exhibition

March 21 – April 9, 2009

exhibition text

Rendezvous brings together Jessica Roberts, Edward Gajdel and Dominic Nahr, three artists represented by O'Born Contemporary. This exhibition will feature recent work as well as images that are representative of the ideas that they are currently working on with their upcoming solo exhibitions in mind. Each continues to work on projects dedicated to and driven by their unique aspirations and intentions.

Jessica Roberts continues to photograph children in their own environments. Her subjects are children with whom she has a personal connection, but they are ultimately self-portraits of Jess herself, suspended at the age of 10, bewildered by the death of her father, insecure, uncertain, caught in a state that fluctuates between awkwardness and a nascent self-awareness.

Gajdel's new studio photographs are a record of the physical dialogue between the nude human body and a whale's rib bone. Disarmingly and deceptively calm in tone, his beautiful photographs are built upon the glorious physicality of the participants who have risen to the challenge of balancing human strength against an archaic object of such massive scale. He continues to create work while pursuing his driving energies as an artist: beauty, power, and grace.

Nahr continues to travel the world - his most recent work comes to us from the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From mid-October to December of 2008 he photographed the constantly shifting frontlines of a battle that is now temporarily quiet but far from resolved. At the time he was documenting the raging conflict he became aware of the civilian refugees as they attempted to move between camps without being killed, fleeing both homes and uprooted camps with varying degrees of success to find shelter that wasn't in the direct line of fire. The plight of these displaced refugees became a dominant concern for Nahr, and we are proud to be able to share his images with our clients as we continue to support this young photographer in his brave and ethical pursuits.

P Elaine Sharpe – March 2009