Exhibit by Eric Rannestad
Initial Conditions consists of two conceptually similar, but materially different, series of work. Brought together for the first time, these paintings and sculptural installations speculate on the future infrastructure of the built environment and explore the human (in)ability to model and control complex natural systems.
Jessie Wilber Gallery
September 8 – December 4, 2023
Reception
Friday, September 8th from 5:00-8:00pm
Artist Statement
Initial Conditions consists of two conceptually similar, but materially different, series of work. Brought together for the first time, these paintings and sculptural installations speculate on the future infrastructure of the built environment and explore the human (in)ability to model and control complex natural systems.
The paintings in this show collage various watercolor rendering techniques – machine-plotting, hand-painting, lifting, washing, masking – as layers in the grid. Stacked in pictorial space are references to digital imagery, maps, contemplative renderings of ecologic space, and woven architecture of the frame.
Occupying the floor of the gallery is an arched network of tanks, tubes, pumps, and nozzles. This sculptural work, part of the artist’s Firmament series, reimagines the infrastructure of various religious cosmologies as a fantastical climate infrastructure of tomorrow. Greenhouses, biodomes, and acts of atmospheric manipulation become the world’s new firmament, new sublime, and precarious system of control.
Artist Bio
Eric Rannestad (b. Chester, CT) received his BA in Studio Art and Economics from Whitman College and a GIS + Design certificate from Pratt Institute. He has been awarded fellowships at the Vermont Studio Center and I-Park Foundation, and attended residencies at Centrum, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, North Cascades Institute, Wassaic Project, and Shell House Arts. Eric currently lives in Bozeman, MT and works on various projects across web development, cartography, and graphic design.
