Paul Oberst: Banded Artifacts / Banded Men at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art
August 6, 2011
August 6 - September 25, 2011
Paul Oberst: Banded Artifacts/Banded Men
Gallery 4, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
Opening Reception
August 6, 4 to 6 pm
Working in many mediums, artist Paul Oberst creates objects that reference universal themes of ritual and ceremony. Recently he has been “banding” his created objects and photographic subjects in black and white and colored stripes, inspired by the “trickster” gods of the Southwest Pueblo people. In his photographs of banded men and boys, one senses a mysterious rite, interrupted. The subjects’ black and white body paint suggests a unity among races, a coming together of life’s dichotomies. The recent sculptural works in the exhibition resemble found ceremonial artifacts, worn with the patina of use and age, and include a site-specific installation titled “Rockport 8.”
Oberst lives in Freedom, Maine, and is represented by Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia. The Banded Men photographs are a collaboration between Oberst and photographer Patrick McNamara.