OCHI is pleased to present Sonnets, a solo exhibition of new paintings by New York-based artist Andy Mister. This is Mister’s debut solo presentation at the gallery. Sonnets will be on view at OCHI, located at 119 Lewis Street in Ketchum, Idaho from July 13 through August 17, 2024.

Andy Mister’s paintings of cut flowers in water-filled vessels merge the ephemerality of traditional drawing techniques with the physicality of painting. Mister’s paintings are intimate, both small in stature and also offering insight into the personal nature of the work—Mister recently moved with his wife and their two young children to a town near the Susquehanna River in upstate New York, a change of pace from city life. Immersed in the outdoors, Mister watches his children navigate the natural world with curiosity and joy. While previous paintings relied on found imagery, the paintings in Sonnets are all based on real flower arrangements made by all members of the Mister family. The artist’s kids choose flowers at the local farmer’s market and place them around the house in whatever vessel they can find—a jam jar used for turpentine, a glass left behind, or a small vase bought secondhand.

Nodding to the late poet Frank O’Hara, Mister’s paintings are small love poems to his family. Each flower has been considered, cared for, and lived with inside their home. Mister’s young son now keeps a small floral arrangement at his bedside, always replenished upon wilting. His toddler-aged daughter keeps a small vase with flowers on a bookshelf that she likes to touch and say goodnight to before going to sleep. Mister affirms, “A lot of my work in the past was about my own relationship to art history consumer culture. Now, as a father and a husband, the focus of my life has changed as I’m responsible for these two little beings and helping them navigate the world. I am trying, as it were, to bring something new into being, instead of copying something which was already there.” The artworks presented in Sonnets reveal Mister’s anticipatory nostalgia – reflecting his gratitude, documenting small passing moments, and allowing him to hold onto them for a little longer.

Andy Mister (b. 1979, New Orleans, LA) earned his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana and his BA from Loyola University in New Orleans, LA. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including at Commune Gallery in Tokyo, Japan; Sevil Dolmaci in Istanbul, Turkey; Turn Gallery, Hirschl & Adler, Morgan Lehman, and Dieu Donné in New York, NY; Rebecca Camacho Presents in San Francisco, CA; Lowell Ryan Projects in Los Angeles, CA; and Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, VA. His work has been featured and reviewed in publications such as Hyperallergic, Huffington Post, ArtNowLA, Curate LA, Monster Children, Quiet Lunch, Frontrunner Magazine, and Avenue Magazine. Mister lives and works in Vestal, NY.