Anthropocene Drifter: paintings and sculpture by Zachary Skinner

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Garrison Art Center is pleased to present Anthropocene Drifter, an exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Zachary Skinner. The exhibition will be on view at the Riverside Galleries from August 10 through September 15. Zachary Skinner finds beauty, humor, irony and playfulness in his use of cast-off materials and his otherwise dark depictions of survival in response to increasingly violent weather due to climate change. Anthropocene Drifter is a powerful exhibition of paintings and sculptures depicting the dystopian point of view of a nomad living in a future in which the Earth’s ecosystem has been all but destroyed. The large, interactive installation is variously constructed from recycled objects and other simple materials portraying a nomadic survival camp in the aftermath of a dysfunctional interdependence of man and nature. The viewer is invited to wander through this environment which takes us on a fictional journey. Included in the installation are live plants cultivated by imaginative techniques on structures that also function as shelters. Other functional structures generate solar power through the gallery windows. The intention of the artist is for visitors to assume the role of nomad/survivor and contemplate their own interdependence with the land. The paintings in the exhibition reinforce the sculptures’ theme of new technologies that generate wind, hydro, or solar power as well as survivalist structures such as rafts and makeshift sailboats which through their precariousness reflect the fragile relationship between humanity and nature. The paintings also grapple with the relevance of the modern landscape. Using oil, acrylic, and mixed media, Skinner creates works that flow between authenticity and parody, fetishized forms and flatness, the Romantic sublime and post-apocalypse, invention and destruction. Paintings and sculptures can each stand alone, but together act as mutual supports for the intended narrative and create a kind of dialectical inquiry into the deeper existential questions of our time while addressing themes of humanity, ecology and sustainability.