This lighthearted genius of pop culture wants to make people think as well. Every icon from our combined histories is fair game for deconstruction, from colorfully painted World War II Nazi helmets—“just a piece of  metal”—to cartoon renderings of historical figures from the Qajar dynasty. Marzban’s vivid imagination holds supreme sway over every endeavor. He has said that if he analyzes an undertaking, he would never finish it.

Baltimore is a gritty space with complicated narratives but is also a hotbed for creativity, with an underground arts ecosystem unrivaled by most American cities of its size. This exhibition celebrates the abstract risk-takers who have been a constant in the Baltimore art scene. Together, these artists are shifting preconceived notions of Baltimore to one that centers community, creativity, and celebration.

Ecologists speak of biological redundancy as natural engineering to protect systems. Any edge is, in effect, a pool of many small variations on biological functions in case any species in the core habitat is threatened or weakened. These subtle complexities reinforce ecotones. That wider impact from the periphery to the heart is the rub. In our age of climate change, unless we intervene in fragmentation, nothing will be left to mitigate the disaster of maximum warming.

Recognition for some is like being in the center of a floodlight, instantaneous and often too bright to withstand for long. For others, fame can feel like a lucky penny, found in the sidewalk crack after a long rest. For artist Faith Ringgold, there was no rest. If she was under the radar for many, she kept creating, drawing from personal autobiography and collective histories to both document her life and to illustrate the struggles for social justice and equity. 

Moments Spent with Others is an invitation to Dawes’ personal stories wrapped in digital visualizations. Over the recent pandemic, as human interaction became scarce and precious, we grew accustomed to detaching ourselves from others. Dawes embraces these moments by recreating them into datasets, algorithms, and data visualizations by incorporating memories that are personal to the artist but are also universally enjoyed.

Dancy has received numerous significant honors and awards, including: a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, New England Foundation for the Arts/NEA Individual Artist Grant, Nexus Press Artist Book Project Award, Visual Studies Artist Book Project Residency Grant, The American Antiquarian Society’s William Randolph Hearst Fellowship, a YADDO Fellow, Women’s Studio Workshop Residency Grant, Connecticut Commission of the Arts Artist Grant, as well as a Connecticut Book Award Illustration Nominee.

German artist Thomas Riesner was born in Leipzig in 1971 and still lives there today. Starting in elementary school, he often veered toward painting "abstract" art, instead of concrete drawing. He retained this style and later changed it to "abstract figuration.” Riesner usually painted at home -- without any professional training or guidance. Riesner identifies with the Outsider art movement.

Growing up in the Southwest, they were inspired early on by the relics of Americana: motels with shattered neon, vacant houses, train cars, and roadside objects. These experiences translate into the work they create today from the banks of the Willamette River. Using cardboard, acrylic, spray paint, and paper, Nonamey has created a body of work varying from sculpture, to painting, to installation art.

Death as a theme has a place in the artist’s obsessions. Later paintings depict skeletons as part of the imagery with a lightheartedness that makes one think the artist at 91 has come to terms with the issue of mortality. One work places the skeleton over an original silhouette of the artist from his own shadow. Another earlier and more somber image is based on a 1965 war photograph by Larry Burrows with Marine corporal James Farley crumpled in grief over the death of a comrade. 

Saint-Exupéry, a pioneering aviator, best-selling writer and humanist, wrote The Little Prince in 1943. First published in New York, the book was published three years later in France in 1946. Timeless in its imagery and message, the story continues to resonate with readers of all ages through its themes of respect for humanity, friendship, authenticity, and charity. To date, the book has sold over 200 million copies.