All the World’s a Stage
Drawings and Preliminary Works buy Erin Currier
Collection and Curation Benefiting Metta Theatre.
May 1st-June 8th
Opening Reception Saturday, May 4th 12-3pm
Artist Erin Currier
Collection: All the World’s A Stage
More than half a millennia ago, in Shakepeare’s Hamlet, it was observed that “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts." It is this interconnectedness of Humanity: the human individual and that human’s encounters with the Other, that has most inspired and informed my work. It is a phenomena that transcends culture, ethnicity, language, place, and time. The bond between brothers, the love between mother and child, the kinship shared through creative endeavors; these run like threads in the great fabric of generations. What compels my artistic practice is the desire to convey that which I have found to be true in all of the countries I have traveled to, as well as here at home in New Mexico: that our commonalities as human beings far outweigh our differences.
The “All the World’s a Stage” exhibition, brings a bit of the people, places, and genres, that have inspired me over the past few years, back to the (literal) stage of Taos, New Mexico— where I first began the large scale collage paintings comprised of post-consumer waste for which I am known. This exhibition is something of a “Process Show”— ie one that shares a window into how I arrive at a larger portrait or figurative painting through the development of ideas in travel journals, sketchbooks, nude figure drawings, preliminary drawings, and small collages. The selection of drawings represent a myriad of themes that evolved into large paintings or even series of works— themes such as Music, Dance, Feminine Empowerment, Direct Action. I have had the honor to show my large scale recycled works for over twenty years all over the world; however, I rarely have the chance to share my first love and the foundation from which all my other creative endeavors originate: Drawing. My hope is that it will inspire you the Viewer—as you move brightly across your own Stage.
The Artist: Erin Currier
It all began with a natural integration of Erin's sociopolitical beliefs with a sheer joy of art-making, and has since developed into an artistic praxis by which she integrates the human realm- its individuals, cultures, and struggles- with its refuse, in order to address the issues she feels most passionate about.
She has been to more than 60 countries, immersing herself in the daily life of countries like Nepal and Nicaragua, cities such as Istanbul and Caracas, studying languages, getting around on foot or by bus, sketching ideas and writing in travel journals, making
friends, and collecting disinherited commercial "waste". Inevitably she returns to her studio in Santa Fe, NM, to create unique series of large scale collage paintings that are exhibited and collected internationally.
Erin has had countless solo shows both in the US and abroad, through the course of her twenty year career— most notably, two major solo museum retrospectives: one at the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson, the other at The Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico. She was also chosen to be Artist in Residence at highly competitive residencies in Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency, Acadia National Park, and Orient Point Lighthouse Residency. Most recently, she was chosen two consecutive by the International Flamenco Festival to be their annual artist.