Jacob Ouillette

My friend Jacob Ouillette is a fine painter.  We met at the Albee Foundation (aka the Barn) where we were both Fellows.  His "Why and What Blue" is above.  Jacob has work in a group show at the Nancy Margolis Gallery, 523 West 25th Street.  It runs May 24th through June 30th.
Jacob himself says:  "These most recent paintings manifest a deeper focus on color and the craft of painting by combining pigments of the ancient world with modern day-glow colors, side by side in one painting.  These curious combinations inspired the title, Why and What Blue?

Jacob Ouillette Brushstroke Paintings

My friend Jacob Ouillette and I met when we were both Albee Fellows, several summers ago. He has his first solo show in Manhattan, from now until November 26th. It is at the Nancy Margolis Gallery (link above), 523 West 25th Street (between 11th and 12th Avenues).
This is one of the paintings in the show, Wit's End, 2011.

Art!

My friend Jacob Ouillette (whose Painted Space I wrote Brooklyn Lighthouse for) is having his first solo show (Jacob Ouillette, Recent Works) at the Dean Project (45-43 21st Street, Long Island City). It opens tonight, and Tom and I are going to the opening reception. Judging from the photo, there is definitely work I haven't seen before.

How It Looked- The Space

This photo, taken by the co-owner of Open Source Gallery, Monika Wuhrer, gives you a good sense of physically being in the space. I’ve been trying to figure out how to write about this. So here is the space, next is the production, and finally how they worked together.

The Countdown Continues

We are one day away from dress rehearsal, two days away from performance. This is what the space looks like.

Open Source Update

Here are the latest photos of the Jacob Ouillette installation at the Open Source Gallery.

More

Here is the Open Source Gallery as of this evening. The painting has begun!

The Process

So, my script for Jacob Ouillette’s gallery opening, now called “Brooklyn Lighthouse,” is ready for rehearsal. We have a great director, Ramona Pula, who’s acted in two shows at LaMama, one of which was written and directed by my favorite dramaturg of all time, Joe Brady. She recently directed “Bubby’s Shadow,” which won the Midtown International Theatre Festival’s Outstanding Overall Production of a New Drama Play Award. She, Jacob and I met at the Gallery last night. There is Jacob, holding the door.

The previous show is over, and these photos are what we found. Jacob plans to starts painting today. And when I can get myself to go three blocks with the camera, it will record the installation process between now and October 10th.

Dream Fulfilled

My work is influenced by paintings- it has been for years. And it’s always been a dream of mine to work on a play in conjunction with a living painter. And now I am.

I met Jacob Ouillette at the Edward F. Albee Foundation (aka The Barn) in 2003. He was a great fellow Fellow; we spent many happy hours going to the beach in his truck for afternoon work breaks, and hanging out and playing poker (I lack poker skills) after dinner. Two of his paintings (a water color of Gays Head and an oil of a sunset of the ocean) hang in my living room.

We lost track of each other for a few years, and recently via Google found each other again. Jacob is having a show in a gallery in my neighborhood which opens October 10th. The show is called “Painted Space,” and it’s at the Open Space Gallery (255 17th Street, Brooklyn NY). The painting above is reminiscent of what the installation will be.

So one night, Jacob, my boyfriend and I out went out for dinner. We were talking about the installation, and decided that if I wrote a play for the opening, that would be a cool thing. I’ve written the play, called “Brooklyn Lighthouse,” and have a meeting with the director on Monday. The link above is to Jacob’s website.

The play will be performed during the opening on October 10, 7:00-10:00 PM. More details to follow.