YOU DON’T SAY?: COMING TOGETHER AT CHAZAN

REVIEW
IT’S WHAT YOU DON’T SAY: AN EXHIBITION
OF WORKS BY JACQUELINE OTT,
LISA PEREZ AND SEAN RILEY
CHAZAN GALLERY AT WHEELER
228 ANGELL STREET
PROVIDENCE, RI
OCTOBER 19 – NOVEMBER 8

by Suzanne Volmer

During the past year, as a conscious step to break the isolation of studio practice and perhaps informally give a nod to the concept of a kinder, friendlier Rhode Island, Jacqueline Ott, Lisa Perez and Sean Riley — and a few other artist friends — decided to meet regularly to discuss their work. The meetings led to the proactive step taken by the three artists mentioned to apply together for a group exhibition at Chazan Gallery, which advertises its open call for artists every two years. Most often, those selected are not unknown to the jurors, who with this knowledge create informed pairings. In this case, Ott, Perez and Riley had an idea of correspondence they wanted to highlight by focusing attention on the similarities and differences in their work, while paying homage to the experience of shared critique time, which they used to advance their aesthetics as artists.

During my visit to Jacqueline Ott’s studio to view her artworks prior to the Chazan Gallery exhibition, she seemed somewhat like the living embodiment of the show title: “It’s in what you don’t say.” Initially, there was a sort of vacuity of silence that resonated with irony. Gracious as she was about fulfilling the request to see her artwork, an interview per se was perhaps not in the cards. From the silence, she offered few clues to understanding the work. When pressed for information, Ott related she preferred the viewer to step forward with an interpretation of the meaning or contextualization of her reductive, geometric, pattern-based works. After a while, she said that she wanted to choose colors for this suite of work that would have neither masculine nor feminine connotation

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