SSNYC’s curatorial program is dedicated to promoting contemporary visual art focusing on the research and exploration of three dimensional work with an emphasis towards ceramics.
Sculpture Space NYC is pleased to present new work by Eun-Ha Paek & Rachael O’Meara.
Opening Reception on Friday, September 6, from 6 to 9 p.m.
SCULPTURE SPACE NYC TO PRESENT NEW WORK BY RACHEL O'MEARA AND EUN-HA PAEK
As part of its Curatorial Program 2019, Sculpture Space NYC will present the work of two distinguished ceramic artists, Rachel O'Meara and Eun-Ha Paek, from September 5 to October 6, 2019.
In choosing to exhibit these two artists together, the Curatorial Program is seeking to establish the links between their works beyond a visual connection. Both artists are committed to addressing the idea of process, the challenges and failures that come with creative experimentation, and finding ways to incorporate those elements into their finished works.
Rachel O’Meara is a New York-based visual artist. Her ceramic sculptures have recently been exhibited at The Brooklyn Clay Tour, Cunsthaus Gallery, and Sculpture Space NYC. She taught Illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and the School of Visual Arts in New York. O’Meara studied Visual Art at Brown University, and Illustration at Art Center College of Design. Previously, she lived in Park City, Utah, where she competed nationally and internationally as a downhill ski racer. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her two children.
O’Meara worked as a freelance illustrator for over a decade for clients such as The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Blue Note Records, Penguin Classics, Spin, American Express, and many more. She showed her work in galleries such as Clementine Gallery, Robert Miller Gallery, and The Bruce High Quality Foundation. Her work has been recognized by Print Magazine, Communications Arts, American Illustration, The Society of Illustrators, New York Foundation for the Arts, and The Brooklyn Film Festival.
In a statement on her work, O'Meara wrote, "My ceramic sculptures help me navigate confusion, obsession, crisis, desire, anxiety and other states held individually and collectively. Some sculptures are actual tools with rituals and rules for use; others are demi-gods to question and plead with. My work is to construct a subjective mythology and usable belief system. Spinners and rotating devices order chaos and chance, create meaning where I can’t find it, or provide direction when I am lost. I incorporate “new beliefs” as needed to accommodate practical, technical and conceptual challenges. I practice a “no failure” policy in which every sculpture must become what it is intended, in some form. I invite the influences of ignorance, shame, failure, and impatience, because it is too hard to keep them out."
Eun-Ha Paek was born in Seoul, Korea. She received a BFA in Film/Animation/Video from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her animated films have screened in the Guggenheim Museum, Sundance Film Festival, and venues internationally. Grants and awards include the Windgate Scholarship and Rudy Autio Grant from the Archie Bray Foundation, a Travel and Study Grant from The Jerome Foundation and the Anna Siok Award from Greenwich House Pottery. Her work has received mentions in The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly and G4 Tech TV. She has held residencies and fellowships at the Archie Bray Foundation, Greenwich House Pottery, Center for Contemporary Ceramics, European Ceramic Workcenter, and Sculpture Space NYC.
In a statement on her work, Eun-Ha Paek wrote "The works in this exhibition were made in the year following an accident far from home. Grappling with it's aftermath in a strange town, unable to move in the way I used to, I also felt like a stranger in my body. Having to ask it politely, is this ok? before doing things that used to be second nature, I embarked on a new relationship with myself. Unraveling my fear of what was once ordinary, I reflected on what it means to trust, nurture, and accept. The works mirror my experiences at once solid and fragile, as I tentatively yet aggressively was unbecoming into becoming. They were made during residencies at Center for Contemporary Ceramics (California), European Ceramic Workcenter (Netherlands), and Sculpture Space NYC (New York).”
SSNYC It is located at 47-21 35th Street, Long Island City NY 11101, near the 33rd Street/Rawson Street stop on the 7 train.
