About the artist

Kendal O’Leary has studied fine print-making since 2009. Her signature work includes a series of large black and white monotype prints of octopus. Each print is unique and printed on 3’X3’ BFK paper. On a plexiglass plate, Kendal’s uses relief technique (like “reverse” painting) to apply and remove the black ink until the image develops.

Artist Statement:

Watching the octopus move in its environment, one soon realizes that there is a give and take between propulsion and release, gliding into shadows, descending to new depths of solitude and reflection. We cannot move forward or make meaning without stillness. To create, I must let go. I allow myself to soften my senses and drift in currents of imagination, unfurling and releasing. The octopus represents all of us in our moments of extension and wonder: pausing, gliding and investigating the surfaces of the world we encounter.

I have always been drawn to art for its transcendent qualities. In nature, the octopus seems to exist in a state of constant transcendence, unbound by a single form, color or texture, transforming before our eyes. The moments I seek are the “in-between” moments of this transformative dance; moments that happen with such subtlety that we might not see them if we blink.