Opening Reception for 'Rapture' by David Onri Anderson

Institute 193 is pleased to present Rapture, a series of recent paintings by David Onri Anderson. Made over the past six months, this body of work marks a creative departure from the artist’s established style. Known for his meticulously planned psychedelic abstractions and still lifes, here Anderson employs the landscape in an intuition-led mapping of the unconscious. The paintings of Rapture further respond to a disappearing natural world. Simple geometries transform into a place for reflection, an ambient realm humming with ancient life. Anderson describes the process of making as a kind of prayer, an invitation to relinquish control and move with the land: 

“As I am painting, I often realize that I may have been to that place before—either in the past or in a dream—and there is something there familiar and yet elusive. As urban areas increase and wild land becomes more rare, I crave open spaces, freshness, extreme oldness, and mysterious wilderness. My paintings search for a place to rest, to commune with the Earth, somewhere that hasn’t yet been colonized and overly occupied. Atmosphere, blades of grass, and tiny feathers from birds flying by find their way into my landscapes. Here is a chance for a fresh start with the land––perhaps we can tread more lightly, and take in beauty without adding what is not necessary.”