Press Release: Michael O'Malley

05.15.97

THE INTERNATIONAL ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM

NEW WORKS: 97.2

Michael O'Malley ?N ANTONIO, TEXAS

Cornelia Parker ?NDON, ENGLAND

Exhibition: June 19 ?ly 20, 1997

The International Artist-in-Residence Program sponsored by ArtPace, A Foundation
for Contemporary Art | San Antonio presents New Works: 97.2, a series of
installations by artists living and working at ArtPace. Michael O'Malley and Cornelia
Parker were selected by the March 1996 IAIR Program Panel, consisting of Elizabeth
Armstrong, David Avalos, Dana Friis-Hansen, Thelma Golden and Maaretta Jaukkuri.
Rhode Island-based Albert Chong was also selected for this residency, however, due to a
family emergency, he withdrew his participation. Work produced by the artists during
their six-week residencies will be exhibited in New Works: 97.2, which opens to the
public on Friday, March 14, 1997.

Michael O'Malley

Born in 1965 in South Bend, Indiana, Michael O'Malley lives and works in San Antonio,
Texas. O'Malley holds a BFA from Alfred University/The New York State College of
Ceramics. He has exhibited at Rrose Amarillo Gallery and Blue Star Art Space in San
Antonio. O'Malley recently completed a residency at the prestigious John Michael
Kohler Arts Center/Arts and Industry Program in Sheboygan, WI.

For New Works: 97.2, O'Malley has made a large-scale, site-specific
installation, which centers around an architectural intervention with ArtPace's 1920s
industrial space. For his installation, O'Malley has carved a 71 2 foot deep, 8 foot square
hole in the concrete floor, exposing materials layers ranging from dirt to gravel to
bedrock. The dirt from the gallery's floor has been packed into 71 2 foot tall rammed
earth walls. O'Malley has submerged in the floor's hole a massive white porcelain
sculpture, made during his recent residency at the Kohler Center. The juxtaposition of the
sculpture's slick vessel form with the raw materials from the site expresses the artists'
concern with materials, architecture, and space. O'Malley has mounted on the walls
small sculptures of found objects cast in resin, which contribute a personal narrative to
the overall installation.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org