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OUT OF THE STORM FOR SYRIA AND TURKEY EARTHQUAKE RELIEF
Out of the Storm was originally an online show organized in 2020 by Duncan Robert Anderson and Charles Browning. The intent was to comment on the distressing circumstance of the moment with the overlapping Trump and Covid eras. The world wags on and it seems there is a constant storm of tragic events bombarding us. Of particular note for us has been the recent catastrophic earthquake affecting Syria and Turkey. As artists, as citizens of a distant and vastly privileged country, what can be our contribution to impact misery on this scale? Art is our gift and our currency. Acknowledging that nothing we make is going to dispel this suffering, we have realized we will keep making work anyway as an act of hope. With Out of the Storm, we hope to use our individual networks to amplify our voices to connect to a broader audience to do what we can to ameliorate this tragedy, and that our work will offer encouragement to some to participate who might not have otherwise. [Our profound thanks go out to the artists in this online show, as well as artists everywhere of every kind, for fighting the good fight. There are long days ahead, but working together with determination, we may be just beginning to see the faintest flicker of hope on the horizon. As the show title suggests, we've been through some hard times, but also that perhaps together we can envision better times ahead.] [rewrite?] Duncan Robert Anderson Charles BrowningOut of the Storm is an online show organized by Duncan Robert Anderson and Charles Browning. As the dread of the pandemic settled over the world like a cloud of doom (coupled with the already relentless cruelties of a psychotic "administration"), the full horror of its reality was nearly paralyzing for both of us, as it has been for many artists. There seems to be little of worth or validity to make artistically in the context of fear and misery on this scale. But as we have slowly come to grapple with the enormity of the tragedy of our times, acknowledging that nothing we make is going to dispel this suffering, we have realized we are going to keep making work anyway, because that, in and of itself, is an act of hope, defiance, and reassurance. Seeing other artists struggling but determined to make their work, we decided the next logical step was to start bringing our work to the world again, even if we can’t all be together. The tumultuous conditions of the day allow for collaborations such as this show, where folks from very different backgrounds and geographies who might not ordinarily have ever known about each other's work, let alone show together, share a common cause. Out of the Storm has no specific theme, but creates a composite picture of artists and their work during the overlapping Trump and Covid eras. These artists cover a broad range of practice, but together reveal personal connections and affinities that cross lines of medium, genre, aesthetics, a web of personal relationships and artistic commitments. Our profound thanks go out to the artists in this online show, as well as artists everywhere of every kind, for fighting the good fight. There are long days ahead, but working together with determination, we may be just beginning to see the faintest flicker of hope on the horizon. As the show title suggests, we've been through some hard times, but also that perhaps together we can envision better times ahead. Duncan Robert Anderson Charles Browning |
