Exhibition Dates: January 11 – March 8, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 1st, 6–8 p.m.
(Jan 2, 2024 -- LOS ANGELES, CA) Abigail Ogilvy Gallery is proud to present Brown Out, a solo exhibition of new and ambitious walnut sculptures by Boston-based woodworker Alison Croney Moses.
There are times when we all need to be comforted. We yearn to be surrounded by stability and strength. We want to be held and protected. This moment is one of those times. As in any brown out, temporary restriction to focus on the essentials is needed to endure. Brown is all around us–it's the color of the soil beneath our feet, tree trunks in the forest, and birds in the sky, and the color of our skin for the majority of people in the world. Symbolizing simplicity, reliability, and tradition, while conveying feelings of warmth and security.
In a time of profound upheaval, divisiveness, and hate stemming from the inability of our society to deal with its past, Croney Moses notes: “I want to be protected. I want to be surrounded by warmth and familiarity. I want what Brown represents.”
Although walnut wood has always been a favorite of Alison Croney Moses,’ this is the first time she exclusively uses this species to bring these notions of what comes to define and associate with the color brown into reality. In focusing on walnut wood, she is curating a space for visitors to relax into the feelings of warmth, safety and comfort, gifting them some of what she experiences when working with the material.
Alison Croney Moses, Our Unit, 2024, Walnut and milk paint, 37 x 35 x 17 in.
“In November I attended the BLACKOUT Boston performance at the Huntington Theatre of Sojourners, the first play of a nine part series, The Ufot Cycle, written by first-generation Nigerian-American storyteller and educator Mfoniso Udofia. The play was moving and relatable to many in the audience, telling a turning point moment in the Nigerian immigrant story. I remember sitting in the audience with all these Brown faces around me and finally feeling like I could relax in a public space- I wasn’t on guard to be assaulted with political rhetoric, for hateful words to be hurled at me or my kids, I wasn’t waiting for emotional warfare. When leaving I felt a little more prepared to deal with the rest of the world. My experience that night confirmed to me that my urge to limit the people and content around me is needed to be able to face the rest of the world. It confirmed that it is okay to be tired, to embrace comfort. I walked away from that performance hoping that my exhibition would be able to create a similar experience for others.”
Trained as a furniture maker, Croney Moses’ sculptures use woodworking techniques, such as bent lamination, coopering, and carving, combined with painting to collaborate with the wood. The resulting objects push the limits of the material becoming explorations of relationships, joy, play.
Left: Alison Croney Moses, When We Are Together, 2024, Walnut and milk paint, 34.5 x 31 x 14 in. | Right: Alison Croney Moses, The Flickering Behind Us, 2024, Walnut and milk paint, 26.5 x 14.5 x 1 in.
About Alison Croney Moses:
Alison Croney Moses is a Boston-based artist who creates wooden objects that reach out to your senses—the smell of cedar, the glowing color of honey, the round form that signifies safety and warmth, the gentle curve that beckons to be touched.
She strives to create situations and objects where people are compelled to interact, to express, and therefore challenge themselves to heal, to stand taller, to build community, and to work toward a more just future.
Born and raised in North Carolina (USA) by Guyanese parents, making clothing, food, furniture, and art are embedded in her memories of childhood. She carries these values and habits into adulthood and parenting—creating experiences, conversations, and educational programs that cultivate the current and next generation of artists and leaders in art and craft. Her work is in the collections at Fuller Craft Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She is a recipient of the 2022 USA Fellowship in Craft, the 2023 Boston Artadia Award, a finalist of the 2024 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize, and the recipient of the 2024 Black Mountain College International Artist Prize. Her work has been featured in American Craft Magazine, the book Joinery, Joist and Gender: A History of Woodworking for the 21st Century, and Boston Art Review. She was recently named one of the 2023 WBUR 10 Makers. Alison’s first solo show in the fall of 2023 was reviewed in the Boston Globe. Alison holds an MA in Sustainable Business & Communities from Goddard College, and a BFA in Furniture Design from Rhode Island School of Design.
Installation View, "Brown Out," Alison Croney Moses, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Los Angeles
About Abigail Ogilvy Gallery
Abigail Ogilvy Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in Los Angeles. We exhibit contemporary art with a heavy emphasis on concept-driven artwork by emerging to mid-career artists located across the country and internationally. Owner Abigail Ogilvy Ryan founded the gallery in Boston in 2015, where the program ran for nine years. In fall 2023, the gallery expanded to Los Angeles under Director Kaylee Hennessey.
Abigail Ogilvy Gallery LA provides a platform for new perspectives and education through independent curation and artist partnerships. The collaborative approach upends the traditional gallery model and aims to enhance the careers of artists, curators, collectors, and other art world professionals, both emerging and established. The gallery program features guest curators to share diverse perspectives and voices with the Los Angeles area, while also showing solo and group exhibitions from the gallery roster.
Website: https://www.abigailogilvy.com
Location: 1923 S. Santa Fe Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90021
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday: 11 a.m.–6 p.m. and by appointment
MEDIA CONTACT:
Kaylee Hennessey
Director, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery
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