Mary King

“Oh Blue” is a series of unassuming, somewhat kitschy, small sculptures with a friendly but provocative presence.

The sculptures are made from paper, polymer mediums, and recycled objects and are universally white with blue words and symbols. The blue honors the blue glazes of early porcelain as well as hinting at political positions, while the painted symbols, including rats, guns, swords, stars, eagles, and dragons, represent the US and other countries in a mostly friendly manner but with an occasional bite.

There is a lot going on here with the works touching on many topics. It is as if one were scrolling through the cacophony of news on their phone or posting on Twitter with not much thought. However, the series has a unifying factor in the pairing of words with their letters rearranged. The relationships of the pairs may be obvious or intentionally unclear adding both doubt and levity to a situation that has too much news, some of which is bad, making this playful work a bit unsettling.