Erin O’Keefe presents the viewer with images of simple geometric shapes in rich colours, painted objects accentuated by precise lighting and shadows. Paint is roughly applied and her hand is legible in textured brush marks. The compositions initially resist and tease the viewer – the scale of the objects is uncertain and flatness and depth appear unreliable. The pleasure of colour and shadow are used against the viewer, in a series of perceptual games played with brush and camera. The image enclosed in the glazed frame is an arranged tableau of painted wooden shapes, photographed to form perceptually impossible objects, the monocular vision of the camera collapsing space.
Recent group exhibitions include AND/ALSO: Photography (Mis)represented at Kasmin Gallery, New York in 2020; Joy before the object at Seventeen in 2019. Solo exhibitions include Certain Things at Seventeen in 2020, a solo presentation at Frieze London 2021 and Nonfiction Seventeen in 2023.
Biography
Seventeen Exhibitions
Nonfiction
Certain Things
Frieze London
Joy Before The Object
Text
The Paris Review by Kate Tarker
Art Forum review by Emily LaBarge
Frieze by Lola Kramer
Uncertain Things – Catalogue with text by Richard Paul
Selected Press
Erin O’Keefe, Just Enough, 2023
Unique archival pigment print on Hanhnemuhle Photo Rag on Dibond
28 x 21 inches
Installation view of Nonfiction at Seventeen, 2023
Erin O’Keefe, Mine and Yours, 2022
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper mounted to Dibond aluminium
63.5 x 50.8 cm (25 x 20 inches)
Installation view of Certain Things at Seventeen, 2020-21
Erin O’Keefe, Keystone, 2021
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper mounted to Dibond aluminium
63.5 x 50.8 cm (25 x 20 inches)
Erin O’Keefe, Almost Time, 2022
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper mounted to Dibond aluminium
102.87 x 91.44 cm (40.5 x 36 inches)
Erin O’Keefe, All Day Long, 2021Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper mounted to Dibond aluminium
81.2 x 101.6 cm (40 x 32 inches)
Erin O’Keefe, Swoon, 2021Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper mounted to Dibond aluminium
121.9 x 91.4 cm (48 x 36 inches)
Erin O’Keefe, Extra Extra, 2022Unique archival pigment print on cotton rag paper mounted to Sintra, framed
101.6 x 76.2cm (40 x 30 inches)
Erin O’Keefe, River, 2020
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper mounted to Dibond aluminium
82.8 x 101.6 cm (32 x 40 inches)
Erin O’Keefe, Orange Walking, 2021
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper mounted to Dibond aluminium
127 x 101.6 cm (50 x 40 inches)
Erin O’Keefe, Eight Things, 2021
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper mounted to Dibond aluminium
82.8 x 103.2 cm (32 x 40 inches)
Installation view of Certain Things at Seventeen, 2020-21
Installation view of Certain Things at Seventeen, 2020-21
Installation view of Certain Things at Seventeen, 2020-21
Installation view of Certain Things at Seventeen, 2020-21
Erin O’Keefe, Rebel Rebel, 2021
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper mounted to Dibond aluminium
63.5 x 50.8 cm (25 x 20 inches)
Installation view of Joy before the object at Seventeen, 2019
Erin O’Keefe, Orange Slide, 2019
Archival pigment print
101.6 x 81.3 cm (40 x 32 inches)
Erin O’Keefe, Upright Blues, 2019
Archival pigment print
101.6 x 81.3 cm (40 x 32 inches)
Installation view of NEW YORK/NEW WORK at Albada Jelgersma Gallery, Amsterdam, 2017