Apartment Therapy New York | The Gallery: Coke Wisdom O'Neal

The Gallery: Coke Wisdom O'Neal

Chris and Mike O'Neal 2005 36 x 29 inches

In his most recent series of photographs it appears the artist has built a HUGE plywood cabinet (In his back yard? Where is this??) and photographed his sitters composed inside it. I can’t get enough of these. The playful scale, the compositions, the patterning in the plywood, the play of light inside the box.

Jessica Sue Layton 2005 36 x 29 inches

Misty 2005 36 x 29 inches

Untitled (25) 2005 51 x 41 inches

These came after a series of “found portraits” taken of medicine cabinets (get the connection?).

Stranger (Cranberry) 2003 24 x 14 1/2 inches

Friend of a Friend (Mario) 2004 29 x 16 inches

Coke O’Neal is represented by Mixed Greens which has a terrific website where you can see more of this work including portraits of cinematic icons -- photographs of actors he took directly off the tv-screen (hmm, people inside another kind of box…).

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Comments (11)

These remind me of that book 'The Indian in the Cupboard'.

posted by Mat on 2006-06-21 16:01:48

Blah. Bad lighting.

posted by Poot on 2006-06-21 16:27:21

great concept, laurie simmons meets kate and andy spade. i don't mean that in a bad way i think the elements of these pictures seem familiar and yet have never been put together this way. thanks for sharing them.

posted by patrick on 2006-06-21 17:52:06

The portraits remind me of French painter, Philippe Bertho:

http://www.martinlawrence.com/bertho.html

posted by chris (nyc) on 2006-06-21 18:28:34

I have one of his medicine cabinet photos in my bathroom, right across from my actual medicine cabinet. looks perfect!

posted by vb on 2006-06-21 20:09:15

I find this a little gimmicky - the lighting is awful and although the concept is clever, I am not sure it's enough to carry it. However, I like the frame within a frame within a frame though - each plywood sheet, the big box itself, the box created by a shadow,etc...

posted by serra on 2006-06-22 09:49:38

I don't know from photo quality, but the box sculpture is located in the Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria/Long Island City QNS(depending on where you draw your border); if you come down on a weekend you can shoot some better lit photos of it PLUS Saturday there's a free yoga class and Sunday a free Tai Chi class (11-noon). It's a gorgeous park and a great place to sit by the river and muse.

posted by Margaret on 2006-06-22 16:52:30

thanks for the info margaret... i was wondering where that box was located!

posted by amy on 2006-06-22 21:24:31

Hearst knock-off (with the medicine cabinets). The large plywood box seems to be a gimmic. We're giving him the tumbs down....

posted by Joe Art Critic on 2006-06-23 13:03:53

I think that these work wonderfully togeather. I love,the thought of, the people in the box, then the inanimate objects in the medecine cabinets. They are very personal in a sort of creepy way. They are really great. I love them. Ashley Harris

posted by Ashley Harris on 2006-07-08 19:30:32

Love it! What a clever idea to build gigantic frames to make the people look miniature. The first one of the formal couple with their dog is my favorite. I'm waiting for Coke O'Neal to wind up as huge as his art!

posted by veggie4 on July 8th 2007 at 11:46pm
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