photo-eye | BLOG: Kevin O'Connell

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Kevin O'Connell, Untitled (FT #3968), 202x, Archival Pigment Print mounted on Dibond, 19x25½", Edition of 7, $3200

When I was first introduced to Kevin O'Connell's work he was known for creating minimalist, Platinum prints, made from large format negatives, inspired by his cross-country road trips through the Southern Colorado Plains in the late 1970s and 1980. Growing up in the postindustrial landscape of Hammon, Indiana, amongst the decaying steel mills and oil refineries, O'Connell was drawn to the vast and isolated West, and after moving to Denver in 1981, the horizon became his muse.

During a visit to the gallery, many years ago, O'Connell shared his new digital photographs printed in color, titled One Hundred Days. The images were personal and he initially didn't plan to share them, but after spending more time with the work, although it was different from what he had made in the past, he realized there might be something there. This was before digital prints had become predominant, and the discussion on that visit centered on whether the new color series should be shared with the public. The consensus among gallery staff was "absolutely!"

Fast forward to 2023, Kevin O'Connell has executed numerous color projects. Today, we are delighted to share a new series, initiated in 2021, showcasing the breathtaking landscape of his new home. The series features photographs taken near the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States.

— Anne Kelly

Through his lens, O'Connell explores the concept of Mono No Aware, a Japanese aesthetic that recognizes the transience of all things and the sadness of their passing. In his photos, the fallen trees embody the fleeting nature of life, reminding us of the delicate balance between growth and decay. Alongside this, O'Connell also captures the essence of Yūgen, a subtle and profound awareness of the universe that sparks a feeling of wonder and mystery. His work invites the viewer to contemplate the larger forces of nature and our place within it, inspiring a sense of reverence and awe.

>> Learn more about Kevin O'Connell | BLOG<<

Kevin O'Connell, Untitled (FT #0388), 202x, Archival Pigment Print mounted on Dibond, 38x50", Edition of 7, $6800

Kevin O'Connell, Untitled (FT #0632), 202x, Archival Pigment Print mounted on Dibond, 19x25½", Edition of 7, $3200"

Kevin O'Connell, Untitled (FT #1890), 202x, Archival Pigment Print mounted on Dibond, 38x50", Edition of 7, $6800

Kevin O'Connell, Untitled (FT #1918), 202x, Archival Pigment Print, 19x25½", Edition of 7, $3200

Kevin O'Connell, Untitled (FT #4375), 202x, Archival Pigment Print mounted on Dibond, 38x50", Edition of 7, $6800

Kevin O'Connell's work is held in many public and private collections. He has exhibited extensively, including numerous solo exhibitions such as Fog Journal (2021), Inundation (2016), Memories of Water (2014) at Robischon Gallery in Denver, Co; Kevin O'Connell: The New West (2014) Fort Collins Museum of Art; Everything Comes Broken, (2014) Santa Fe University of Art and Design. He has been interviewed on Colorado Public Radio and received two fellowship grants from the Ucross Foundation.

photo-eye Gallery is proud to represent artist Kevin O'Connell.

>> See more images by Kevin O'Connell <<

>> Signed copies of Fallen Trees | BookStore <<

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The prints from this series are Archival Pigment Prints

mounted on Dibond and are available in two sizes

19x25½", Edition of 7, Starting at $3,200

38x50, Edition of 7, Starting at $6,800

Print costs are current up to the time of posting and are subject to change.

* * *

If you are in Santa Fe, please stop by during gallery hours or schedule a visit HERE.

For more information, and to reserve one of these unique works, please contact photo-eye Gallery
Gallery Director Anne Kelly
or
Gallery Assistant Jovi Esquivel
You may also call us at (505) 988- 5152 x202

photo-eye Gallery

1300 Rufina Circle, Unit A3, Santa Fe, NM 87507

Tuesady– Saturday, from 10am– 5:30pm

Platinum/Palladium Prints from Kevin O'Connell's Canyon Series installed in LIGHT + METAL at photo-eye Gallery

photo-eye Gallery is proud to feature new platinum/palladium works by represented artist Kevin O'Connell in our LIGHT + METAL exhibition. These prints are from Kevin O'Connell's Canyon Series, a stark and subtle sequence of dense and tangled landscapes. Unlike O'Connell's previous wide graceful views of the Colorado plains, the Canyon Series is tight and opaque. The all-over composition utilizes rich tones and natural gestures to create dark evocative scenes.

Exposing the brushed edges of his hand applied photographic emulsion, O'Connell acknowledges the images as his expression. He utilizes the landscape to build a cohesive emotional and personal statement—brushstrokes echo branches, creating a dialog between the artist and the environment. Returning to the Platinum/Palladium processes after an extended hiatus, O'Connell's Canyon Series invites examination at an intimate distance, revealing themselves over time.

We recently spoke with Kevin about the design and intention behind the works from his Canyon Series included in LIGHT + METAL, and he offered the following statement.

Kevin O'Connell, Canyon Series #8655, Platinum/Palladium Print, 14x11" Image, 1/3, $1400

My grandfather, Ernst, was a carpenter who immigrated to the US from Germany after WWI. As a child, I spent countless hours indulging my imagination in his shop. It was a giant building lit mostly by skylights that gave the space a glow and created mysterious soft shadows. The place smelled of sawdust and oil. There was a towering wall of shelves stacked with hundreds of old cigar boxes. Each box was labeled with handwriting: 3” screws, 6p nails, 1/2” bolts… He had lived through the depression and was compelled to save everything that contained the possibility of use. One of my early jobs was straitening bent nails.

Kevin O'Connell, Canyon Series #8632
Platinum/Palladium Print 14x11" Image
Edition of 3, $1400

As a young adult, I swung a hammer on the framing crew and learned the joy of making things. Ernst worked every day well into his 80’s. He had a strong work ethic and was a stubborn SOB. It occurs to me that his self-made life, confidence, and perseverance are inspiring but I don’t aspire to his rancor.

Today, I still like working with my hands, and while I appreciate the power and possibilities of the microprocessor, I find the experience of working on a computer a bit soul-crushing. Yet, to great satisfaction, I’ve made several bodies of work that were created with both digital input and output. It’s clear that some projects lend themselves to a certain technique – I believe that the path to the lies in the original vision.

I spent the winter of 2017 studying Japanese calligraphy. Every morning I sat down at my desk, breathed, and made few ensos. Then I would study some characters. It became a meditation. I never became very good but it was a joy. Inevitably the process reminded me of preparing a sheet of paper for making a platinum print. I love the feel of the brushes, the touch of the paper, and the gestures of line making. It led me back to the darkroom for the first time in a decade.

My prints in LIGHT + METAL illustrate, what are for me, the best qualities of the medium: dark, rich black; suggestions of light; and the expression of the brush. A friend once suggested that the act of painting platinum on a piece of paper is “like a caress”. That caress is evident in all of the images of this series. I made the images on a very thin 28gr/m kozo that would only tolerate two or three passes with the brush without abrading. As a result, the act of putting the brush to the paper is a commitment from which there is no return. It is a leap of faith that may yield only one or two satisfactory prints after a full day in the darkroom.

Each print contains a unique black mass of platinum that is framed by the edges of the mat – when the pieces are viewed in a series the mass dances in the frame and exists independent of the imagery, reminding me of the darker Rothko paintings.

Kevin O'Connell, Canyon Series #8651, Platinum/Palladium Print, 14x11" Image, Ediiton of 3, $1400

Kevin O'Connell in his Darkroom

Kevin O’Connell was born in Hammond, Indiana amongst slowly decaying steel mills and oil refineries. The post-industrial landscape fostered an early fascination with large machines, energy, and temporality. During cross-country road trips in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Kevin discovered the vastness and isolation of the West. After moving to Denver in 1981, the horizon and the theme of water (as well as the lack thereof) became a significant factor in his work. His most recent series of still photographs and videos, “Inundation” (2016), present a visual departure from the images of the arid landscapes of Colorado. Kevin’s work is held in numerous public and private collections and he has exhibited extensively, including numerous solo exhibits such as “Everything Comes Broken” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (2009) and Santa Fe University of Art and Design (2014), “Inundation” (2016), “Memories of Water” (2014), and “Moments of Inertia” (2011) at the Robischon Gallery in Denver. He has been interviewed on Colorado Public Radio and has received two fellowship grants at the Ucross Foundation.

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LIGHT + METAL has been extended at photo-eye Gallery

through Saturday, September 22nd, 2018.

For additional information on Kevin O'Connell's work,

and to purchase prints, please contact Gallery Staff at

505-988-5152 x202 or gallery@photoeye.com.

» View LIGHT + METAL

» Read More about the Exhibition

» Favorites from LIGHT + METAL

» Visit the Gallery

541 S. Guadalupe St.

Santa Fe, NM 87501

– View Map –

Photographer Kevin O'Connell discusses his exhibition Conventional Entropy currently on view at photo-eye Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. O’Connell’s photographs depict pipelines, pumps, tanks and towers used to extract energy from the natural landscape. However, the machines succumb to the natural world and the massive structures stand as monuments to entropy itself. O’Connell explores the topic of energy development and consumption and the proliferation of these machines unable to withstand the test of time.

The exhibition continues through April 5th, 2014.

View images from Conventional Entropy at photo-eye Gallery

For more information please contact photo-eye Gallery at 505-988-5159 x202 or gallery@photoeye.com

Untitled (CE - 1035) -- Kevin O'Connell

Exhibition runs Friday, February 7th through March 29th, 2014.
Opening & Artist Reception Friday, February 7th from 5-7pm
photo-eye Gallery is located at 376-A Garcia Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Currently on Display is our on-going weekly feature investigating the individual works that are included in the show currently on display at photo-eye Gallery. These artist features include the images selected for this exhibition as well as the artists' thoughts and inspirations behind the individual image or images.

The featured images this week are: Origin, Bound and Biologique by Zöe Zimmerman, Crushed Bottles, Sayulita, Mexico by James Pitts and Observations on Lenticular, 1996 and Road and Crop Lines, 2001 by Kevin O’Connell.

Zöe Zimmerman

Origin by Zöe Zimmerman

"Simply, I think we all came from Africa originally. So, this young woman represents the first woman. An African Eve. The origin. The nest is also a symbol of our origins or birthplace, but really it is included in the image because it mirrors the spiral of her hair and I'm a sucker for symmetry."
-Zöe Zimmerman

Bound by Zöe Zimmerman

"Following loosely in the tradition of symbolic meaning in the elements of still life, I invent my own aesthetic vocabulary. In this image, the tulip represents beauty and the twine and box and pins are a depiction of the desire to own that beauty or contain it or capture it. This picture is a metaphor for what I feel is my task as a photographer. It is a discussion about the attempt to capture beauty." -Zöe Zimmerman

Biologique by Zöe Zimmerman

"OK. Bluntly. This image is about sex. Really. Look at it. You need more of a map? The seed in the box is a spermatozoa in its own dark universe and up above it is a plethora of... vessels. Or choices. Or potentials. Or accidents. Or fantasies. Or hopes. Really." -Zöe Zimmerman

See more images from Zöe Zimmerman here.

James Pitts

Crushed Bottles, Sayulita, Mexico by James Pitts

"What interests me is documenting and juxtaposing marks casually left by man. These semi-identical, multitudinous images are everywhere, but draw minimal attention. The grid panel of Sixteen Crushed Plastic Bottles Sayulita, Mexico, is one example of my attempt to expose veritable urban artifacts."
-James Pitts

See more images from James Pitts here.

Kevin O’Connell

Road and Crop Lines (2001) by Kevin O'Connell

"These pictures were made near the beginning of a journey that was to become (unbeknownst to me at the time) a lifelong obsession with vastness and the experience of being on the Great Plains. Then, my pictures were filled with mark making and were heavily influenced by artists such as Rothko and Newman. While somewhat abstract, these pictures rendered in the delicacy of platinum on paper, were intended to speak to some of the primal responses that could arise when navigating that wonderful sea of grass - awe, serenity, isolation, and fear. Today, my images continue with many of these themes in the context of the contemporary Western landscape." -Kevin O'Connell

Observations on Lenticular (1996) by Kevin O'Connell

See more images from Kevin O'Connell here.

Please contact me if you would like additional information or would like to receive email updates about Zöe Zimmerman, James Pitts or Kevin O'Connell.

Anne Kelly, Associate Director photo-eye Gallery

*Next week's featured artists will be Nick Brandt and Raymond Meeks.

Read the first three posts:
PART ONE - Jo Whaley and David Trautrimas
PART TWO - Tom Chambers and Laurie Tümer
PART THREE - Hiroshi Watanabe, Michael Levin and Julie Blackmon

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Print costs are current up to the time of posting and are subject to change.