JESSE FINLEY REED Olly olly oxen free
February 19 - March 26, 2011
Artist Talk: Saturday, February 19th, 5:30pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 19th, 6:00 - 8:00pm
Discussion and Reception are open to the public

Kaycee Olsen Gallery is pleased to announce Olly olly oxen free, a solo exhibition of new work by Los Angeles-based artist Jesse Finley Reed, from February 19th - March 26th, 2011.

At 5:30pm, Saturday, February 19th, the evening will commence with a 20-minute Artist Talk with Jesse Finley Reed and a very special guest, moderated by Kaycee Olsen, as part of the ongoing series "In Conversation with Kaycee Olsen." The Talk will focus on the details of Reed's work, particularly the intersection of photography and queer aesthetic.

Olly olly oxen free is a phrase used by children while playing games such as hide-and-seek to suggest that those who are still hiding can reveal themselves without losing the game. The phrase itself seems to have taken on many incarnations and phonetic spellings throughout its years of appropriation by children. It has been suggested that it originally stems from, "All ye, all ye 'outs' in free", according to Dictionary of American Regional English, or "all who are 'out' may come in without penalty."

Drawing on the mischievousness associated with this phrase--all those who are "out" may come in without negative consequences--Reed also taps into its queer connotations, taking the double entendre of the playfuness of the phrase's origins with the seriousness of its implications as the cornerstone of Olly olly oxen free. Queerness plays a significant role in the reading and creation of his work, not only as an indication of sexual orientation but also as something in relation to the strange or uncanny. In Olly olly oxen free Reed explores how temporal materials, including lighting, decoration and objects can transform bodies, hallways and nightclubs into something strange or somehow 'other.'

Through the work, his visual images and objects sit in disjunction with quotidian representations of his subjects: nightclubs are brightly light, rather than dark and sexy; hallways and doorways lead us to a location without letting us in; male bodies are almost revealed, remaining in a liminal space, a threshold between coming forward and receding into darkness.

Jesse Finley Reed has an MFA in photography from Yale University and a BFA from Tufts University. He has shown around the world in cities as varied as Berlin, Boston, Mexico City and New York. Reed is the winner of the 2005 DAAD Research Grant in Berlin and was a finalist for the Fulbright Travel Grant and the Hayward Prize. His work has been covered by Frieze magazine, Time Out New York, Artforum.com and artUS. Olly olley oxen free marks Reed's first solo exhibition in Los Angeles.

Kaycee Olsen Gallery is dedicated to presenting emerging and mid-career artists with a programming concentration on Los Angeles contemporary artists, and collaborative projects from New York and Europe.