Achieving and Undermining Sameness purposefully brings together visually incohesive paintings. The artists of this exhibition showcase their unique experiences, knowledge, emotions, and thought processes through painting. These paintings vary in styles, ranging from abstract work to representational work in styles such as self-portraiture, and realism.
The way we handle difficult situations defines us in a way. Karin Colbourne finds herself questioning her identity as a person after the pandemic afflicted the world. Quarantined at home, she faces her emotions head-on, as shown in Discomfort. Understanding one’s reality and emotions take recognition and processing of those realizations, yet makes one uncomfortable and at times, becomes overwhelming.
We can share the same experience, even in different places. Nicole Lundahl’s work, Sleepless Stars, emphasizes the feeling of not being able to sleep at night, thus heading outside to look at the stars. This is a relatable and humbling moment, thinking that all these different people kept up at night are sitting under the same sky, watching the same stars pass by, feeling the same restlessness; it has a magical resonance to it.
Marlena Urban’s Living Space paints a large detailed plant with a small red flower. The lack of detail in the background raises the question: what purpose does the plant serve that it is the only thing shown in the painting? Through her use of the shading and light of certain parts of the plant, Urbans’s exploration of tone and hue to translate mood through still lifes is front and center.
With a variety of styles available, it is hard to understand what connects these works. This extends to the point of scrutinizing the little details of each body of work. However, it takes time to understand a single painting, let alone the whole exhibition. Our exhibition creates an environment where viewers can discuss and contemplate the works of art in relation to each other and interprets for themselves what our works are trying to say collectively.