Press Release
February 29, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Two solo exhibits: Clover Archer and Max Key open March 8, 6-10pm as a reception with the artists. The exhibits run through April 19, 2008. They will be a source for this year’s Audio April events.
A visitor to this exhibition will feel a dividing line between two opposing bodies of work. Max Key’s large, saturated oil paintings of excessive pattern and plastic tackiness face Clover Archer’s large-scale, disjointed photo transfers - connected by only pencil and ink on white paper. The two bodies of work have been curated as individual entities and as the rhythm they create together in the space.
Each exhibit at Caro d’Offay invites a strong element of chance. Uncertainty plays a key role in d’Offay’s curatorial process. “When I see something cohesive or unified, whatever that may be, it translates as a physical rhythm.” says d’Offay. “This rhythm must then pick up where the last exhibit (or a past exhibit) left off. This is important because at the core of my gallery mission is the belief that the accumulation of well-balanced patterns form bigger and more meaningful systems – in this case, the unifying system is the gallery history with all exhibiting artists and converging events. The result of a typical exhibit here is two strong systems side by side and a third unifying expression that they actively create together.”
This exhibit by Archer and Key is an exceptionally challenging and exciting one, because the only common factor is that the artists’ works are also the product of this same open-ended system.
Clover Archer, BFA 1995 University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH and MFA 2000 New York University, New York, NY. Max Key, BFA 1996 Kansas City Art Institute.
Caro d’Offay Gallery is located at 2204 West North Avenue in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday from 1-6 P.M. Hours are also available by appointment.

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