AB NY Gallery in East Hampton Village has opened its season on June 1, with “Five Element Theory,” a debut solo exhibition featuring the work of Jackson O’Brasky (b. 1992 Pittsburgh, Penn.). An artist reception will be held on Saturday, June 10, from 4 to 8 p.m. and the show remains on view through July 2.
O’Brasky, who has been in the gallery program since 2020, began oil painting at the age of 15 and after receiving a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, he moved to New York City, where he currently lives and works. O’Brasky obtained his MFA from the New York Academy of Art in 2019. He is an avid cyclist, hiker, fortune-teller and cat owner, and he maintains a daily meditation practice. Drawing inspiration from the traditions of Morandi and de Chirico, O’Brasky primarily works in still life, depicting found objects, scraps and ephemera. Jackson’s ability to plan and execute his work showcases his deep dedication to unveiling each sublime story he discovers in the everyday.
“I think it is incumbent upon artists to tell the truth, or to try to reveal something insightful,” O’Brasky explains. “My work explores the truth of our environment, or of reality in a more general sense, through an interrogation of the objects that populate that environment. Our ability to gather and utilize information, the basis of reality, is increasingly mediated not only by digital interfaces, but by a vast ecology of semi-autonomous objects and activities. When they have reached the limits of their usefulness to us, our objects are discarded and left to decay — but often it is in this process of disintegration that their true nature is revealed.
“Removed from the context of usefulness or even of uselessness and situated within the space of painting, the object establishes its own demands upon composition, hierarchy and color. I attempt to establish a visual grammar based on these relationships, without narrative or symbolism, to allow the object to define itself in its particular moment, to reveal its truth to us.”
AB NY Gallery is at 62 Newtown Lane, East Hampton. For more information, visit abnygallery.com.
Staff Writer on Jun 6, 2023