Solo Exhibition | Jackson Hole, WY
Altamira Fine Art Jackson is pleased to welcome Ashley Collins for her second solo exhibition with the gallery, "Points of Light" opening July 23rd, 2019.
Please join us for an artist reception Tuesday, July 23rd from 5:30-7:30pm at our Jackson Hole, WY location.
Ashley Collins’ paintings require presence to truly appreciate. Conscious viewing sustained over days, weeks, months, and years reveal the countless layers she embeds in each panel. Her paintings open portals to history, both personal and profound. With each new work, Collins excavates a truth that is new in presentation yet ancient in meaning. Such is the case with Shooting Star, the most recent piece in her bold Skin Horse series which finds the artist painting a perfect specimen only to tear it apart once finished. From these fragments, she rebuilds a less-immaculate yet more-meaningful work. Riven with the wisdom won from conflict, the imperfections are a mark of lived beauty.
Story—history, her story, our story—underpins Collins’ effort. The tradition of wishing upon a shooting star is traced back to the Greco-Roman astronomer Ptolemy who, around 135 AD, wrote about the gods peering down on humans through a crack between the spheres of the heavens and earth, through which stars would cascade. During such meteor showers, the ancient Greeks would make wishes, recognizing the glinting trails as evidence that the gods were listening in on their thoughts and actions. For Collins, children have become the torchbearers of this tradition, holding fast to their dreams. With Shooting Star, she creates a conduit for adults to unearth the child within, ever-present yet subsumed by the rules learned throughout life. She empathizes with her collectors, many of whom have achieved the material success prized by society, and recognizing their desire to delve beneath cultural constructs and reconnect with childhood joy. “At this point in my 30-plus years of painting, most of my collectors—through sheer determination and hard work—are far beyond the wealth and success that most of us dream of,” she says. “Yet because of that, they are often the most child-like or learning to be child-like, because once we have conquered the adult rules of life, we realize how utterly meaningless they are.” Collectors accept Collins’ visual invitation to appreciate moments rich with wonder, to learn to love the priceless joys in life.
Shooting Star embodies the gesture of generosity, the encouragement to soar in the galaxy of dreams. Evoking the scale of the universe, the 96” by 120” triptych defies its massive size with a pervading warmth and alluring texture. Every element invites haptic exploration: weathered pages pulled from books call for scanning the knowledge that surrounds us; references to the classic children’s tale, “The Velveteen Rabbit”, by Margery Williams, stir childhood fascinations; a metal rose that detaches from its magnet to become a magic wand; a metal whirligig, sourced from an antique seed spreader, welcomes touch. “Time is our most valuable possession,” Collins says. “Children are great teachers of being in the now.”
Pre-sales available.
Please contact the gallery for more information, connect@altamiraart.com, (307) 739-4700.