ABOVE THE SEA OF FOG: NEW ENCOUNTERS IN LANDSCAPE

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For centuries, artists have used the landscape as inspiration, subject, setting, specter, and reference to the sublime. Often, these lines blur: the iconic Caspar Von Friedrich painting Wanderer above the Sea of Fog can be read as man conquering nature; man in awe of nature; or man’s insignificance within the natural world.

skowheganCONVERSATIONS is pleased to present three artists, Christopher Carroll (A ’08), Lilly McElroy (A’ 06), and Scott Wiener (A ’10), who have metaphorically played the role of Von Friedrich’s Wanderer to various comic, tragic, and alienating ends. In their respective work, these artists explore many themes: clichés of the natural world and the sublime; relationships to history and time through the consistency of landscape; a disassociation with nature; the politics and history of site; and the complex relationship between being subject to the natural world and attempting to control one’s place within it. Through their use of photo- and video-based media, and oftentimes their own bodies, Carroll, McElroy, and Weiner attempt to collapse the distance between the artist and their experience with and within the landscape. 

skowheganCONVERSATIONS is a discussion series celebrating the significance of the dialogue that takes place outside of the studio, the classroom, and the gallery. Many generative moments at Skowhegan happen between formal discussions, critiques, and lectures, when participants and faculty have the opportunity to delve deeply into the topics that inform their work and practices. These moments happen while lounging after dinner, on the lawn in the afternoon sun, and in a myriad of other landscapes and times when boundaries are dissolved, and real discourse can take place.