On the 17th of July, at 6 pm, Meno Parkas Gallery will present a site-specific drawing by artist Morgan O'Hara (USA / IT). The work will be produced in collaboration with gallery visitors and volunteers, based on Morgan O'Hara's drawing made in situ, using the author's live transmission drawing technique.
Morgan O'Hara's art, culturally contextualized in the practice of drawing as a fundamental human endeavor is continuous with the time-honored practice of drawing from life and builds on the historical continuum of the field. This practice requires presence, connection, direct observation, and LIVE TRANSMISSION. Through this work, the artist transcends arbitrary "oppositions" between abstract and figurative art, between purely gestural expression and documentary intent, resulting in narrative work that is not figurative.
Artists and non-artists of any age are invited to participate in the experience. It will be a team effort and any amount of participation is appreciated. It will begin on Monday morning and be finished by Wednesday evening. The artist Morgan O'Hara will work from 10 am to 6 pm each day and people are invited to join for any length of time during that period, preferably at least two-hour periods. Friends and friends of friends are invited to participate. Please wear clothes which will not be damaged by paint accidents. Flat black acrylic house paint will be used.
Morgan O'Hara (b. Los Angeles 1941) was raised in an international community in post-war Japan. Her practice researches vital movement of living beings through drawing. She earned a Master's Degree in Art from California State University at Los Angeles, had her first solo exhibition in the Musée Cantonal des Beaux Arts in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1978.
In 1989 she began doing performative drawing in
international performance art festivals at the invitation of Boris Nieslony,
did her first site specific wall drawings at De Fabriek in Eindhoven, The
Netherlands, and began the practice of aikido, a Japanese martial art. In 1997 O'Hara's work was honored with a solo show in the
newly opened Drawing Room at the Drawing Center in New York. O'Hara maintained her studio in Europe for 25 years: Paris,
Berlin and 21 years in Italy. Now lives and works in Venice and New York.
Exhibits internationally.
Her work is in the permanent collections of many institutions, including: The British Museum, London; Kupferstichkabinett Berlin, Germany; Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas; Národní Galerie Prague; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California; Hood Museum of Art - Dartmouth College, New Hampshire; Janáček Museum, Brno, Czech Republic; Macau Art Museum, Macau, China; Metropolitan Miuseum of Art, New York; Moravská Galerie, Brno, Czech Republic; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Olomouc Museum of Art, Czech Republic; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Wannieck Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic; Weatherspoon Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina.
Her permanent site specific wall drawings can be found in
the Macau Art Museum, Macau, China; The Canadian Academy Kobe, Japan; and the
Vrije Universiteit OZW Building, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. O'Hara teaches master classes in drawing and the psychology
of creativity in art academies in the US, Europe and Asia. She has been awarded numerous international residencies
including MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire; Emily Harvey
Foundation, Venice, Italy; Guapamacataro in Michoacán, Mexico; New Space Arts
Foundation in Hue, Vietnam; Galerie Školska Prague, Čimelice Castle, Czech
Republic, et al. She is recipient of grants from the Pollock-Krasner
Foundation, including the Lee Krasner Award for Lifetime Achievement, the
Gottleib Foundation, Leon Levy and Putnam Foundations.
The exhibition is part of Meno
Parkas Gallery‘s project "Art Line. 2024". The project is financed by the
Lithuanian Council for Culture.