OBO
RISD MFA Sculpture 2016
Jeffrey Allen, Devra Freelander, Maggie Hazen, Nicholas Missel, Zachary See, William Udell
August 12 – August 28, 2016
Opening Friday August 12, 7-10pm

The exhibition title OBO as proposed by the artists refers to the term “or best offer” in classified advertising and intends to evoke a vast and non-prescriptive ideology of sculpture-making. OBO is an open invitation for each artist and viewer to contribute relevant interpretations to the individual works on view: Object Body Ontologies, Ostensibly Banal Orders, Open But Over, On Behalf Of [each of us], for example.

OBO also considers the six artists – who have been working alongside each physically in a shared studio space and in a conceptual and intellectual realm for the past two years – both in their relationship of interdependence as a group and in their search for autonomy in their individual practice. While the influences of the artists are broad, they share an interest in non-traditional forms and the use of mixed-media such as painting, video, and performance.

OBO opens Friday August 12th and runs through Sunday August 28th. Special Gallery Hours: Fri-Mon, 1-6pm. Opening Reception Friday August 12, 7-10pm with performance by Maggie Hazen. For additional images and further information please contact the gallery at 347.925.1433 or by email at inquiries@microscopegallery.com

Jeffrey Allen
Raised in Greeley Colorado, Jeffrey Allen received his MFA in Sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design partnered with graduate research in poetry at Brown University. His work explores the breakdown of language and semiotic absurdity.

Devra Freelander
Devra Freelander makes sculpture at the intersection of geology and technology. She received her MFA in Sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design, and has traveled to Antarctica and Iceland in pursuit of polar sublimity. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, at the New York Design Center, the RISD Museum, the White Gallery in Lakewood CT, and the Fjuk Arts Centre in Iceland. She is a recipient of the 2016 St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award, and will participate in the 2017 Arctic Circle Residency.

Maggie Hazen
Born and raised in Southern California, Maggie Hazen is an interdisciplinary artist and performer. She received her MFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design and has done collaborative research at CERN, MIT and Brown University. Hazen’s work explores the body as a performative site of both temporal and abiding transformation. She has studied at the European Graduate Studies in Saas-Fee Switzerland to research art and the politics of estrangement, has participated in the Vermont Studio Center, has exhibited at the Brown University Granoff Center and various places across LA including the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance.

Nick Missel
Born in St. Louis, Misouri, Nicholas Missel is currently attending Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. He graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with his MFA in Sculpture, and in 2015 he received the RISD Graduate Studies grant. He is a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation graduate scholar.

Zachary See
Zachary See currently lives and works in Providence, Rhode Island. See grew up on a small island off the Gulf coast of Florida, and his work sources from the realities of experience within the objects and culture surrounding leisure as the American dream. He received his MFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design.

William Udell
William Udell currently lives and works in Providence, RI. He is an alumnus of the Vermont Studio Center and Kenyon College, and earned his MFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design. Udell received the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship Award in 2016.

Maggie Hazen, “Everyonesaghost”, 2016, installation and performance, dimensions variable


Zachary See, “Pine Ride”, 2016, lacquer, iodized salt, pine, heart pine, igloo cooler, urethane, spray paint, 3D printed seashell, chewing gum, 60 x 60 x 40″