Tracing an Outline Around a Man’s Shadow: Atticus Adams, Aaronel deRoy Gruber, Michael Morrill, Ed Panar, La Vispera
August 1 - September 13, 2024
This exhibition is curated by Nina Friedman, Director at Tomayko Foundation.
Tracing an Outline Around a Man's Shadow is a group exhibition of works that explore shadows, cast light, color, and negative space. Six artists working across entirely different mediums and thematic concepts come together, playfully casting shadows, capturing darkness, and employing materials that diffuse light in unique cascades and hues.
The exhibition’s title is in reference to the myth of the Corinthian Maid, who, in an effort to capture the likeness of her lover before he went off to war, drew and outline of his shadow on the wall behind him as he slept. The myth, recounted by numerous philosophers throughout history, is often referenced as the birth of painting, and as humanity’s primary foray into the depiction of the self. When considering the shadow’s mythical place in history to bring us out of the proverbial darkness, one discovers that it has also been associated with the soul, evil, and the self’s own doppelgänger. A shadow’s many associations serve as a psychological mirror to our existential fear and wonder and is explored here by the containment and diffusion of light and darkness within the gallery setting.
Simultaneously highlighting the psychological impacts of shadows and darkness, Tracing an Outline Around a Man’s Shadow explores materiality through the various mediums employed by each artist. In focusing on the presence of each work, how can viewers contend with the underlying nothingness that gives a shadow its unique significance? In approaching each work, viewers will find that the fleeting intangibility, which is a central element of both shadow and light, acts as a unifying force throughout the exhibition.
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