Edition Size: 40
12 x 12 Inches
Hand-Embellished Archival Pigment Print on 290gsm Moab Fine Art Paper
"This series of work was created during my month long residency at El Housh Gallery in Fuheis, Jordan. I had the opportunity to travel around Jordan and soak up a ton of reference, insight into the culture, traditions, and history before starting on the work. Visiting places like Petra, the Dead Sea, Wadi Rum, the ruins of Jerash, and the Amman citadel all contributed to the direction of this series as well as the bulk of my time just living and working in Fuheis.
I named the residency exhibition 'Ascalon' after the mythical spear that St. George used to slay the dragon, an ever-present visual icon in Fuheis. This powerful symbol can be interpreted many ways however I figured that since I was the first artist in the residency, we could refer to the show as 'the tip of the spear', if you will.
The concept behind most of the work has to do with reconciling a relationship to history. I've been guilty of romanticizing the past in my work and my experiences in Jordan reminded me that history is an ongoing, tangled, interwoven continuous mess of events that people are literally living and working amongst in the form of architecture, streets, customs, and religion. Much of the work aims to refresh a connection between the subject depicted and the object that was painted on, such as the deconstructed chairs and doors that were used as canvas. " - Beau Stanton
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