“ROCK ‘EM, SOCK ‘EM” Recent work by Carolyn Oberst

Carolyn Oberst will be exhibiting a series of oil on wood relief paintings along with a group of framed paintings on paper. These works are a comment on the state of our contemporary lives.

Like the early Surrealists, Carolyn Oberst uses images of toys to create an emotional impact. Her new wood relief paintings, featuring bright colors and lively shapes, employ a labor intensive and intricate wood relief technique. After cutting the wood shapes, each piece is painted separately with oil paint, and then screwed onto a painted wood panel from behind.

This imagery and way of working allows Oberst to comment on the tumultuous state of our contemporary life. The vintage toys refer to the fact that childhood, and, by implication, adult life as well, isn’t what it used to be. The days of growing up slowly have been supplanted by an overly busy lifestyle more bombarded with input than ever before.

On the other hand, the complications, juxtapositions and multi-tasking we all experience, can be fun and interesting. Though challenging, our modern lives reflect a new, exciting cultural expansion. The colorful oil on wood relief and animated quality of these paintings captures the upbeat side of our new order. In this way Oberst depicts both the positive and negative sides of this aspect of contemporary life and expresses the contradictory state of our existence.

Originally from Philadelphia, Carolyn Oberst has lived in New York City since the early 1970’s. While originally a fashion designer, she fell in love with painting when creating fabrics for her collections. She gave up the fashion business to become an artist and has never looked back. She studied at the New York Studio School and the Art Students League. Her solo exhibitions include those at the Willoughby Sharpe Gallery and the Margaret Bodell Gallery. In 2011, she exhibited 25 paintings in a major 2-person show at the Vit Gallery in Seoul, S. Korea. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions including those at The Brattleboro Museum, The Taos Gallery, NM, and KS Art Gallery in NYC.

Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday 12-8. A catalogue of the exhibition will be available.

Subway: E or M train to 23rd Street/Court Square 7 train to 45th Road/Court Square G train to Long Island City/Court Square.