Megan Rye "I Will Follow You Into the Dark"
Forum Gallery
This event has ended.
Based primarily on an archive of over 2,000 photographs taken by her brother while stationed in Iraq as a U.S. Marine, Rye’s 17 paintings from 2006 to 2011 offer testimony to memory and history, mystery and the unknown. The viewer is confronted by surreal beauty and the unexpected reality of war.
The painting Exile in Babylon, 2011, refers to “Camp Alpha,” a U.S. base built on the site of ancient Babylonian ruins. The canvas juxtaposes emblems of the Mesopotamian city, with images that are not usually associated with wartime, such as Marines in Santa suits being fingerprinted and blindfolded like detainees. At the top of the painting is an electronic scoreboard that is based on one from a homeless shelter in the artist’s native Minneapolis. This shelter, converted from a former gymnasium, serves the increasing population of homeless veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and poignantly reminds the viewer of who is at home and who is a guest in wartime. This particular scoreboard also illuminates how no one is winning.
Other paintings offer equally unexpected glimpses of the war. Seen through the vision of night goggles, "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," 2006, depicts Marines building chin-up bars at night in the Sunni Triangle. "Protect You," 2010, shows a Marine dressed as Elvis for Halloween, and Alien, 2008, depicts a Marine in full military uniform with protective goggles and mask.
“When my brother returned from Iraq, he went to a mall, and felt as if the average person didn’t even realize that there was a war going on. When you go to an art gallery, it is a very specific place, a place of contemplation where all other distractions fall way. I want to create that space where people can think about and come to terms with their own feelings about the war,” notes Rye.
A portion of the exhibition’s profits will be donated to organizations benefiting war veterans. In conjunction with the exhibition at Forum Gallery, an installation of photographs of work by Megan Rye will be on view at the St. Albans Community Living Center, a VA center in Queens. The dates will be announced shortly. She will give an artist talk on June 15 during Veterans Field Day at the Center.
[Image: Megan Rye "Alien" (2008) oil on canvas 52 x 73 in.]
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Schedule
from June 06, 2011 to July 15, 2011