Kathryn Markel Fine Arts is thrilled to announce an upcoming exhibition of paintings by Maeve D’Arcy. “Ogham” will run from September 14 - October 21, 2023 with an opening reception on September 14th from 6-8pm.
Ogham is an ancient alphabet that was primarily used to write early Celtic languages. It has an association with foliage, as many characters were modeled after specific trees. Inspired by Ogham, Maeve D’Arcy practice explores mark making as language. In a contemplative process, her random thoughts are turned into dashes, x’s, dots and every other sort of repetitive mark. They also mimic the dashes in Ogham, which are typically horizontal or diagonal lines that intersect. While Ogham letters mimicked trees, D’Arcy’s paintings echo the random concepts, feelings, and items that are significant to her on any given day.
Living in Jackson Heights, NY, observation rules D’Arcy’s life. Known as one of the most diverse zip codes in the United States, there is a plethora of visual information that she is constantly taking in. In a peek into her mind, she describes the observations: “..Ogham, stitches, sea caves, moldy bread, skee-ball, mulch, seaweed, stained t-shirts, horseshoe crabs, tokens, rust, alphabets, love letters, sediment, antlers, encounters, knots, the price of a stamp, rosaries, oceanography, dirty martinis, aprons, hurricane names, revolving doors.”
D'Arcy’s train of thought is impulsive and random, the marks are intense and meditative and the shapes and colors they give form to are arbitrary and unexpected. The result is playful and intuitive, as D’Arcy’s imagery seems to grow inevitably out of the energy of her process, to express the passage of time and the individuality of one’s own thoughts.
Media Contact:
Abbie Knight
abbie@markelfinearts.com
