Exhibition Text

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Bad Neighbors is artist Evan Sherman’s first solo exhibition. The show is comprised of a collection of paintings that manifest the fragility of the world's ecosystems in this time of global change. Evan’s work speaks to contemporary art’s tendency to respond to the socio-political conflicts of the present. Evan hopes that his work can provoke conversation and inspire action in others.    

 

Growing up in Santa Barbara, Evan has developed a love for the waves and trails that also call Santa Barbara home. Evan’s appetite for the outdoors grew over the course of many family vacations to the expansive forests and orange canyons of the United States’ protected areas. The discovery of the world’s natural phenomena has sparked a passion for environmental stewardship and a desire to protect these wonders for future generations. 

 

Global scientific research has concluded that by the year 2030 the effects of climate change will become irreversible. We are waist-deep in the sixth extinction, a process that if not stopped will be accompanied by ecosystem collapse, food shortages, and over a billion human refugees by the end of this century. This decade will determine whether the Earth remains a viable habitat for human life, or not. We either take significant steps to combat the threat of climate change, or we accept an increasingly inhospitable environment in the future.

 

Bad Neighbors tells the story of the intersections of humans and “nature”, spaces of collision and coexistence. While people tend to think of humans as separate from nature, our worlds are entwined like many threads in a blue and green blanket- a blanket that is beginning to unravel. Evan intends for this exhibition to act as a call to arms to protect our neighbors and the future of the human race.