OCHI is pleased to present Monday Morning, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Los Angeles-based artist Adam Beris. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. The works will be on view at OCHI, Sun Valley, from July 23 – September 3, 2022 and there will be an Artist's Reception on Saturday, July 23rd from 4-6pm, MST.

Drawing from an existentially observational sense of place and a playful approach to material, Beris’ self-described ‘grass paintings’ evoke finite fields of visual language and familiar objects. In each work, the artist recreates patches of a neighborhood park riddled with ephemera left behind from parties, playdates, and picnics. Squeezing paint directly from the tube onto the canvas, Beris builds each bulbous blade of grass to render a three-dimensional assortment of hidden objects, strategically placed and peering through the abstracted foliage. In searching for these Easter eggs the audience recontextualizes discarded objects with little perceived value and resurrects them as signifiers of a present place and time—satirical evidence that the artist actually leaves the studio.

Poker cards, action figures, plastic insects, and dice all appear tucked away under paint, repetitively layered in a gesture towards unpredictability and chaos. Car keys, party decorations, and other symptoms of capitalistic excess are littered throughout, creating a synthesis of human interruptions to natural growth. Beris meticulously harmonizes both the raw materiality of paint with object. Overly simplified baseball, flower, and cigarette icons blur the lines between consumption and creation, sign and signifier. Each object - trash, treasure, or stylized depiction - carries equal importance in Beris’ landscapes.

Balancing simplicity and hidden depths with patience, skill, and humor, each work in Monday Morning presents an immersive viewing experience that is both unusual and quotidian, engaging while also meditative. With a borderline fetishistic appreciation of the physical qualities of paint, Beris pokes fun at formalized traditions of art making as he privileges the purity of material.

Adam Beris (b. 1987, Milwaukee, WI) received a dual degree in Painting and Creative Writing from Kansas City Art Institute in 2009. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at venues including MCC Longview Cultural Center in Lee’s Summit, MO; Over the Influence in Hong Kong, China and Los Angeles, CA; Y53 in Los Angeles, CA; Fabien Castanier Gallery in Los Angeles, CA; The Late Show in Kansas City, MO; and OCHI in Los Angeles, CA and Sun Valley, ID. Beris currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.