A Whole Thing

6th June – 19th July 2025
PV Sunday 8th June 2-5pm

Four objects are depicted in the photograph, two black circles, a black ellipse and a blue panel on its side. They are in front of a grey painted background, which drops down to a horizon line where an expanse of warmer, yellower grey moves towards the viewer. This foreground proceeds as expected, containing the arrangement of objects until the flat circle unexpectedly disrupts the progression of linear space, facing us flatly, vertically within the picture plane. This is confusing because the circle immediately behind it is obeying spacial rules as we understand them — rules that we all previously agreed upon. The rearward sphere is occupying a position in three dimensional space that feels familiar – a matte black ball lit from the right side. The shadow it casts isn’t quite proportional, it is thinner and without the form we anticipated. This is also confusing. The ellipse to the left is lying flatly on the grey ground, casting no shadow, and seemingly at odds with the circle in the foreground. The three black forms are clearly related and yet offer gently conflicting interpretations of space. Something also seems to be awry with the blue and yellow block that is positioned centrally in the image. It casts a sharp shadow to its left, it seems to occupy space, have volume, but now I’m beginning to doubt even this …

A Whole Thing is the third solo exhibition by Erin O’Keefe at Seventeen. In the studio she uses temporary arrangements of carved wooden objects,  painted and carefully lit, to produce unique photographic works. These images engage the viewer in conversations around painting, object making and the photographic process. O’Keefe provides the viewer with a trail of clues and visual taunts, encouraging an engagement with her process and wider themes of perception and representation.

Erin O’Keefe holds a Master’s in architecture from Columbia University and was a Professor of Architecture in New York for 20 years. Recent solo exhibitions include: I saw the man with a telescope at Sargent’s Daughters, New York; Erin O’Keefe at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, London;  Nonfiction at Seventeen, London; Measured Perspectives, with Katja Mater, curated by Paulius Petraitis, as part of Riga Photo Biennial, Riga. Her  work is held in museum collections including the Mead Art Museum, Museum Voorlinden and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Erin O’Keefe, All Together, 2025
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag on Dibond aluminium, framed
40 ¾ x 30 ¾ inches (103.5 x 77.7 cm)

Detail of Erin O’Keefe, All Together, 2025
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag on Dibond aluminium, framed
40 x 30 inches

Erin O’Keefe, A Whole Thing, 2025
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag on Dibond aluminium, framed
42 ¾ x 25 ½ inches (108.5 x 65 cm)

Erin O’Keefe, Softly, Gently, 2025
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag on Dibond aluminium, framed
42 ¾ x 30 ½ inches (108.5 x 77.7 cm)

Erin O’Keefe, Trio, 2025
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag on Dibond aluminium, framed
40 ¾ x 30 ¾ inches (109 x 78 cm)

Erin O’Keefe, Some Future, 2025
Unique archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag on Dibond aluminium, framed
40 ¾ x 30 ¾ inches (103.5 x 77.7 cm)