Ellen de Meijer “#CO2”

Unix Gallery

[Image: Ellen de Meijer "Floating Regret" (2019) © Ellen de Meijer]

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UNIX Gallery presents #CO2, new paintings by Dutch artist Ellen de Meijer. #CO2 portrays modern day archetypes, threatened by global warming.
“Almost daily, we hear about global warming, but still we do far too little to really take responsibility for the harm we cause our planet. Perhaps this is because we can’t see our co2 emissions.”
- Ellen de Meijer

Dutch artist Ellen de Meijer uses her medium to confront viewers with an inconvenient truth that describes our modern day life; despite our incredible technological revolution, humanity naively presumes that endless consumerism has little impact on our planet. The artist explores the trappings of social construction and expectation that causes many societies to become complicit in environmental disruption.

As we simultaneously take pride in the evolution of humankind, we seem ignorant to the gravity and subsequent impact of climate change on our planet. De Meijer believes we have wholly embraced a fidelity to material possessions, power, and individual gains, and that our detachment will lead to devastating consequences.

In this exhibition, ripe with thematic references, viewers are invited to engage with a collection of stoic, uncomfortable characters unabashedly displaying their wealth. In Floating Regret, we are confronted by the image of a man who wishes to proceed with business as usual, adapting to the destruction around him through his use of water wings. The black water wing on his left arm also functions as a mourning band. Hereby, de Meijer effectively communicates that humankind is not only the cause, but also the victim, of its own decay.

In this period of her life as a painter, de Meijer feels it is time to give her work deeper meaning and purpose. She believes art can make us look forward and be critical, and can force us to hold a mirror up to ourselves. With these portraits, Ellen de Meijer hopes to raise individual awareness for the issue of global warming.