We are honored that a new exhibit showcasing dearantler’s work will be showing online and in-person by appointment at Avenue 50 Studio from April 17 through May 29. Elements of Existence explores our collective relationship with nature through the lens of the four classical elements -- water, earth, fire, air -- with each element represented on one of the four walls in Avenue 50 Studio's intimate Annex Room. In all, eighty-one paintings, watercolors, and prints offer an homage to nature's therapeutic beauty while also prompting us to examine our misuse of natural resources and our impact on flora, fauna, ecosystems, and our fellow humans in this, our only home. From finding wonder in nature to witnessing catastrophic extremes of rising sea levels and unprecedented wildfires, Elements of Existence offers an array of musings on our past, current, and possible future relationships to all that sustains us on planet Earth.
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Spellbound | Wanderings Through the Witching Hour
Something stirs you awake during the blue hour, and you can’t be sure if you heard a sound or if your mind is projecting. You are alone but you feel a presence other than your own. Is it benevolent? Is it trying to tell you something? Your eyes are heavy and you drift between waking and dreaming. Is your half-awake, half-asleep state dulling or sharpening your senses? Is this hypnagogic state a doorway to a different reality?
In the latest show from dearantler we wander through the witching hour. Come along as we surrender to the night, open the door to the supernatural, explore the land of dreams, and commune with the impossible.
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Psyche | Introspections In an Era of Uncertainty
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world inside out. In one fell swoop, the very nature of human connection has been rewritten. Stay-at-home orders have been imposed in cities around the world. Second-nature expressions like handshakes and hugs are a strange and distant memory. Terms like social distancing, lockdown, quarantine, and droplets (currently our least favorite word in the English language) have invaded the parlance of our times and taken root. A public health disaster whose only logical remedy is an adherence to science and data has been grossly politicized. Moral quandaries usually reserved for academic halls of philosophy are playing out the world over, pinning public health outcomes against economic well-being. The most vulnerable members of our global society — including the elderly and those living in minority communities — are dying in disproportionate numbers while medical staff are literally ill-equipped to prevent it. Patients die alone, their loved ones unable to visit them. Unemployment rates climb past Depression-era highs. On every continent, people are self-isolating while time slows and blurs.
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