D’Amelio Terras is pleased to present Demetrius Oliver’s first solo gallery exhibition in New York. Through large-scale photography, sculpture, slide-projection, and video, Observatory articulates a visual form for the cycles of thought, investigation, and experimentation endemic to artistic practice and self-discovery.

Relying on materials encountered in daily routine and capturing their reflections off of curved surfaces, Oliver redeploys prosaic objects to unveil new contexts and sites of meaning from a fish-eyed, almost surreal frame of reference. The images capture the artist at work among electrical cords, camera equipment, and scattered tools, contributing to the impression that through Oliver’s lens, one finds the artist in the midst of a private, uncensored event. Even in images where Oliver’s presence is absent, one can sense an implicit human trace through Oliver’s disquieting arrangement of axes, hammers, coal, and table lamps.