ERIN O'BRIEN: Room Tone

ROOM TONE ERIN O’BRIEN

On the cover:

Listening to My Mother Describe the Color of Roses

October 23 - December 6 2025 529 West 20 Street

Erin O’Brien

Erin O’Brien culls the forms in her tender abstract paintings from personal photographs and sketches. Through simple line drawings, she extracts compositions from the silhouettes of, and spaces between, objects or people in these mementos. The paintings carry a poignancy that arises from her closeness to the subject. They serve to reaffirm the importance of these connections - and of the photographs and sketches that hold them. She makes by hand a physical, precious version, yet abstracts it to maintain privacy and intimacy.

She is interested in what is revealed and concealed, absent and present, allowing for multiple meanings and a sense of uncertainty. The title of the exhibition further underscores this concern: “Room Tone is taken from the world of film and video production and refers to the sound of a room when everyone in it is still and silent. The phrase refers to what is present within a perceived absence.”

The palettes are improvised. One color impacts her choice for the next as she considers how shape, color, and the linen surface interact. For O’Brien, flat colors become both presence and void; with the right combination of colors, a single shape can become both. Lines and shapes are placed thoughtfully, connecting, defining, breaking, and enveloping each other. Both hard edges and areas of dissipating color coexist, creating a tense, evocative energy that draws the viewer in.

Erin O’Brien was born in Massachusetts and lives and works in Catskill, New York. She holds an MFA from Bard College and a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art. Her work has been shown at Kathryn Markel Fine Art (New York, NY); Bethanien (Berlin, Germany); 106 Green (New York, NY); Mana Contemporary (Jersey City, NJ); Palazzo Monti (Brescia, Italy); Tiger Strikes Asteroid (Brooklyn, NY); and Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago, IL), among others. Her paintings were featured in Art Maze Magazine, Issue 11, and an interview with her appeared in Maake Magazine, Issue 6. O’Brien is the recipient of residency fellowships from Palazzo Monti; Weir Farm National Historic Site; Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild; and Anderson Ranch Arts Center. This is her second solo exhibition with the gallery.