Kathryn O’Halloran at BOZO Mag

On view: January 1–March 1, 2020

Walking down the garden path into Kathryn O’Halloran’s exhibition at Bozo Mag, a small gallery nestled into a back-house garage, it’s hard to distinguish where exactly the exhibition begins. Ceramic works sit amongst cacti and orange trees throughout the yard. Urn, a tear-dropped and thumby ceramic form sprouts flowers out of its sides and a burning incense stick out of its pointed top. As the exhibition unfolds into the gallery space, the show title, Self-Reliance is not a Thing, seems like a misnomer. Throughout, O’Halloran’s idiosyncratic ceramic forms mingle with air filters, silver leaf, radio antennas, and reflectors, suggesting DIY prepper-type constructions, outfitted for some unknown use. Although always hemmed in by a delicate ephemeral touch, it is unclear how exactly these works might provide some kind of post-apocalyptic function. Instead, they exist as modern trophies to our anxious time.