Altared Realities: Toward Atonement
Exhibition Statement
Altars are places where sacrifices are offered, sometimes as an act of atonement. The associated rites are supposed to make things right, or create a propitious future. The images in this exhibition are areligious offerings intended to express concern for what is being sacrificed on the altars of power and greed. It seems that the natural world is being decimated for short-term gain with too little, or no, concern for the future. These images pose questions toward addressing the consequences, intended or unintended, of human actions.
The artworks are metaphorical and symbolic narratives and tableaus. While they may be read in different ways, dependent upon the experience of the viewer, the intended stories mostly cast non-human species as emblematic of the natural world. The environments these real animals inhabit are imaginary ones that refer to the natural environment. The human presence is implied in the constructed elements in the spaces. The earth-like planets in some of the images are also emblems of our natural world and its finiteness. The narratives are not prophetic, and it is far too late for forewarning. Instead, they speak to the now. The reality is that now may already be too late for some changes.
The exhibition as a whole asserts that the natural world is sacred, worthy of reverence and respect. It is a completely rational worldview that values the natural world as the source and sustainer of all life. We fool ourselves when we act as though we are apart from it. Nature is amoral and cares not whether humans exist. For humans to take a reciprocal view of nature is the height of hubris. The stories that take place in these imaginary spaces speak to very real problems. The reality is that there is an urgent need for atonement, as in being at one with.
Exhibition View
(click on an image to see larger complete versions)
Recent Exhibition: Altared Realities: Toward Atonement, January 4 – March 6, 2017 at the Yavapai College Prescott Art Gallery in Prescott, Arizona. Here is a review of the exhibition in The Daily Courier, the Prescott newspaper.
