The PDX Art Program is honored to debut ten masterly charcoal drawings from the series A Storm Blown From Paradise by Vancouver BC based artist Amory Abbott. These superb works are on view pre-security through November 2019 in the International Arrivals area of North Baggage Claim.
Spanish Point, 2018 | Charcoal on Stonehenge 250 gsm | 26 x 36 inches
Amory Abbott’s art practice addresses a faltering ecological future by visualizing darkness and cataclysm in landscapes on the brink of transformation.
Sherkin Island VII, 2018 | Charcoal on Stonehenge 250 gsm | 36 x 26 inches
Exploring conceptual commonalities between the charcoal medium, fantasy, and ecology, Abbott looks for inspirational sources in writing, storytelling, and music that regard the natural world as foreboding and somewhat sinister on the surface, but nevertheless seek spiritual communion with it.
Sherkin Island IV, 2018 | Charcoal on Stonehenge 250 gsm | 36 x 26 inches
To that end, his work foreshadows a future that requires imagination and action, curiosity and magic, and spiritual introspection.
Sherkin Island III, 2018 | Charcoal on Stonehenge 250 gsm | 36 x 26 inches
By wandering through these solemn and chthonic environments, Abbott hopes viewers might experience awe, wonder, hope, and a tender appreciation for the land beneath our feet.
Sherkin Island I, 2018 | Charcoal on Stonehenge 250 gsm | 26 x 36 inches
A Storm Blown From Paradise is a series of charcoal works on paper developed by Abbott after attending a writing and arts residency on Sherkin Island, Co. Cork, Ireland in May 2018, designed to reconnect artists and writers with the land and its mythological and ecological histories.
Lough Leane, 2018 | Charcoal on Stonehenge 250 gsm | 26 x 36 inches
The works are depictions of real places, though shrouded in a fairy-tale darkness, imaginings of a world emptied of life, yet still very much alive.
Killarney, 2018 | Charcoal on Stonehenge 250 gsm | 36 x 26 inches
Amory Abbott was born and raised in Indiana and received his BFA in Illustration from Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis in 2004. After a decade of professional and personal art practice, he moved to Portland, Oregon to pursue graduate school, earning an MFA in Visual Studies at Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2016. He now lives in Vancouver, British Columbia and teaches illustration at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Cliffs of Moher II, 2018 | Charcoal on Stonehenge 250 gsm | 36 x 26 inches
Abbott’s work has been featured in gallery exhibitions in Indianapolis, Indiana at IMOCA, Harrison Center for the Arts, and Primary Gallery, in Oakland, California at uBe Art Gallery, and in Portland, Oregon at Russo Lee Gallery, Antler Gallery, The Lodge Gallery, Stall Gallery, and Pacific Northwest College of Art. Abbott’s work is also featured in national and international publications 3×3 Illustration Annual, and the Dark Mountain Project. Abbott is currently represented by Russo Lee Gallery in Portland, Oregon.
Cliffs of Moher I, 2018 | Charcoal on Stonehenge 250 gsm | 36 x 26 inches
amoryabbott.com
Instagram: @amoryabbott
For inquiries and additional information on A Storm Blown From Paradise, please contact Russo Lee Gallery at gallery@russoleegallery.com.