d berman gallery is pleased to present Narratives, an exhibition of new work by Robert Jessup and Katy O’Connor. Representing two generations of Texas narrative painters, these artists both depict theatrical stories. O’Connor works from both her staged photographs of friends and her candid photographs of strangers, and Jessup utilizes a cast of characters in a bizarre storybook world. Each depicts ambiguous scenarios in which the viewer often assumes a voyeuristic role. By playing with different vantage points, skewed perspective, or unstable picture planes, the painters also may draw the observer in as a participant in the scene.

Each of O’Connor’s works “is a slightly abstracted snapshot of an everyday occurrence, in which the ordinary compositional elements morph into a fantastical world of color and movement that only an artist could imagine.” – Erica M. Shamaly, Austin Museum of Art Catalogue. O’Connor earned her MFA from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1999 and lives and works in Austin. Her work was included in the Austin Museum of Art’s 22 To Watch exhibition in 2002, and The Texas Fine Arts Association’s New American Talent in 2001 (for which she received Juror’s Prize).

“For Jessup, the painted world is undeniably a stage, with every element in it – no matter how small and seemingly unimportant – irrevocably assigned its precisely designated place for maximum formal and thematic effect.” – Theodore F. Wolff, Museum of East Texas & Art Museum of Southeast Texas Catalogue. Jessup teaches at The University of North Texas in Denton. He has shown extensively in museums and galleries throughout the United States. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta; The New Orleans Museum of Art, and The South Texas Institute for the Arts, Corpus Christi.

Read What the Austin American Statesman says

And Mary Beth Brenner in The Austin Chronicle

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