The Asheville Art Museum presents The Elemental Arts: Air | Earth | Fire | Water. Opening September 2.
The four elements are universal energies, grounded not only in the nature of our planet, but also within our bodies.Our lungs and breath relate to air, our skeleton and flesh to earth, the heat generated by our bodies to fire, and our blood to water. Air, earth, fire and water are key elements in the occult and mystical worlds, but the first knowledge of them was based more on science as it was understood at the time. Ancient Greeks believed that everything was made up of these four elements, a concept that formed the basis of philosophy,science and medicine for over two thousand years. While we now know that these previous beliefs were simplistic and flawed, we continue to be inspired and at times awed by these elements.
Ke Francis, Three Friends: Loggerhead, Albino Catfish and Magic Moon, 2001, woodcut, 26 x 28 inches. Gift of Delphia Lamberson and Hoke Smith Holt. Asheville Art Museum Collection. 2002.01.05.65.
Humans cannot live without the four essential elements. Air fills our lungs and gives us breath, earth furnishes us with food and shelter, fire keeps us warm and wards off the night,and water quenches our thirst. But as necessary as they are,these elements also have their dark sides—air brings hurricanes and tornadoes, earth erupts with lava and quakes, fire reduce things we care about to ashes and water overflows our lands. Using both two- and three-dimensional works from the Museum’s Permanent Collection, this exhibition examines the way in which artists have treated or incorporated these elements into their works.
The Elemental Arts: Air | Earth | Fire | Water features works from the Museum’s Permanent Collection including Elizabeth J. Peak’s Clouds, Paula Stark’s Red Earth, Douglas D.Ellington’s Untitled Landscape on Fire and Ke Francis’sThree Friends: Loggerhead, Albino Catfish and Magic Moon, among many other works.
This exhibition was organized and curated by the Asheville Art Museum.
Asheville Art Museum
2 South Pack Square at Pack Place
P.O. Box 1717
Asheville, North Carolina 28802-1717
Phone 828.253.3227
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www.ashevilleart.org