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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Hellbound
TS Eliot wrote his epic masterpiece The Waste Land in 1922 as a eulogy over the death of Old Europe in the wake of the Great War. To Eliot, there was no greater loss than the loss of what gives life meaning -- the collective cultural consciousness of humanity, evidenced in literature, music, art, mythology and history. With the First World War, humanity had undergone a rite of passage from innocence to experience, crossing the point of no return.
If the challenge of Eliot's time was that of a fundamental and irreversible societal metamorphosis evidenced by devolving culture, today we find ourselves at a similar crossroads -- only the stakes are higher. Ours is a battle of existential proportions, where the very survival of our species, and that of the myriad species we rely upon, is no longer a foregone conclusion.