Mary King

“Oh Blue” is a series of unassuming, somewhat kitschy, small sculptures with a friendly but provocative presence.
They are made from paper, polymer mediums, and recycled materials and are intentionally toylike. They are painted white with blue letters and designs using a blue that the Chinese have used on their porcelain since 1300. (Incidentally they got the blue pigment from Iran, well Persia.) I feature China because of its fraught relationship to the US.
Blue has a political as well as an emotional meaning, and there’s a lot going on here: Words with their letters rearranged, rats, guns, dragons, stars, boats, planes, references to trade. It’s an attempt to add levity to a serious situation, to counter mean tweets and hostile commentary, to be provocative but not unkind, to generate conversation.

BFA The University of Chicago. MA Western Michigan University.

Selected Solo Exhibitions:
"War Stories" Hyde Park Art Center and Woman Made Gallery, Chicago Il. "Beautiful Industry" South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend IN. "Lifescapes" Sherry Washington Gallery, Detroit MI. "The Approach" Denise Bibro Gallery, New York NY. "Traveling On" Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo MI.