In conjunction with “Turn the Page: The First Ten Years of Hi-Fructose” at Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, painter Martin Wittfooth visits for a talk and Q&A on Thursday, Nov. 10. The narratives of the artist’s paintings focus on animals, offering allegorical and dystopian tales of a post-human world. The artist created the cover for Hi-Fructose Volume 35. The talk, kicking off at 6:30 p.m., is free for museum members and $5 for non-members. Get more info here.
The Toronto-born artist spent a majority of his childhood in Finland, before moving back to his hometown and after graduating from Sheridan College, ended up in New York City. When asked by beinArt Gallery what draws him to classical painting, he offered some insight: “Classical oil paintings often have something really incredible trapped inside of them: a kind of time capsule into eras and the philosophies and social culture of past times, which only art can give us a genuine glimpse of.”
Last month, “The Archaic Revival,” occupied Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles. The title was inspired by ethnobotanist and philosopher Terence McKenna, who held a theory that society was reverting back to archaic values and norms in order to heal itself from a modern, poisonous condition.