Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Sullivan and Jamie O’Neill.
ZBY Gallery started as a joint venture between husband and wife Jamie O’Neill and Elizabeth Kirby Sullivan. They started their first gallery in Gloucester, but they relocated to Artists’ Row in Salem in 2017. Both classically trained artists, they met through their connections to the graffiti world.
Elizabeth studied with Parsons Paris School, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Pratt Institute in NYC. She’s drawn to the gestural abstraction in both graffiti and modern art, finding graffiti to be a blend of pop art and abstract expressionism. Elizabeth thinks the violence and velocity in this kind of mark making is what makes graffiti and abstract expression worth looking at. She likes to tease out aspects of graffiti work and bring it into her gallery pieces-the wild immediacy of graffiti is quickly lost when transported into a gallery space fully formed. Her latest body of work looks to tie in her latest interest in cave painting and how it relates to modern graffiti sensibilities. Elizabeth also creates lino block print fabric work. Using Salem’s history as inspiration, she has a wide range of graveyard inspired prints as well as local flora and fauna. She produces primarily wearable pieces, but has expanded this year into home textiles such as table cloths and placemats.
Jamie specializes in realist paintings, ranging from freight train close ups to coastal landscapes. Drawing upon memories of painting trains in his youth, O’Neill conveys the impressive scale and saturated colors in his hyper-realistic paintings. The play of company logos and graffiti pieces on canvas highlight the color relationships, and the variety of patterns, and textures found in both streamline worlds of graphic design and graffiti. O’Neill often paints seldom frequented urban areas. “There’s a certain kind of atmosphere that pervades into discarded, or out of reach places” says O’Neill. Using extended perspective and without figures, he creates his own hyper reality. O’Neill’s deep knowledge of his subject and acute attention to detail bring these paintings to life, evoking a sense of awe and passion.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
We were originally worried about the reception to a gallery/studio dedicated to graffiti base fine art, but people have been very receptive. It’s hard to always judge how deeply something you as an artist may find interesting has entered the general public’s zeitgeist. A lot of that positive reception can be partially attributed to such successful graffiti and street art based events such as Beyond Walls in Lynn, Ma, and the Punto Urban Art Museum in the point neighborhood in Salem, Ma. Both transformed previously drab urban spaces into beautiful, massive works of art. The Punto Museum actually starts within a block of our gallery on Artists Row, and anyone visiting the area should definitely stroll through.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the ZBY Gallery story. Tell us more about the business.
ZBY Gallery is not only a space we show what we’ve finished, but have pieces we are actively working on. It’s an opportunity to closely engage with our audience. There are people who have never been into a gallery or have had a chance to converse with the artist while they’re working, it’s great to make something that can be intimidating accessible to the general public. It’s good for people to see our process and how much time and care go into pieces. We specialize in graffiti based paintings, and lino block printing on fabrics.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Elizabeth: I don’t really believe in “luck”. I think what is important to progressing any goal is the ability to not be afraid to fail. A lot of the successes I’ve had in my career was because I asked someone. The worst thing anyone can ever say to you is “no”, and that in and of itself is something you can always come back from. You have an amazing idea but don’t know how to do it? Find people who do that thing and ask them! I had a show a few years ago I was getting ready for and I wanted to make some large scale metal sculptures, but I didn’t know how to ARC weld or have the equipment or space. So I asked my car mechanic if he could weld some simple deer pieces, and not only did he say yes, he offered to teach me how to ARC weld in his shop so I could make them myself!
Jamie: I’d agree with not really believing in luck, but would add the importance of authenticity in the journey to success in your field. If you stay true to what interests you and don’t start bending your vision to fit what you think is trendy or seems to be selling, people respond to that. They sense it, the truth in your work. That’s a reason why we both include graffiti in our work-it’s something we both have a lot of experience with and inform our daily lives. We each blend it with our unique styles of paining to produce something new and interesting.
Contact Info:
- Address: 24 New Derby St
Salem MA 01971 - Website: eksullivanstudio.com , jamieoneillart.com
- Phone: 7815883889
- Email: zbygallery@gmail.com
- Instagram: e.k.sully , jamieoneillart
- Facebook: facebook.com/zbygallery
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