Slipstream

GALLERY 360, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, OCTOBER 21, 2021 - april 16, 2022

At once surreal and sublime, Tamera Avery’s monumental paintings feature masked and costumed youth navigating liminal spaces. From glacial edges and deep forests to post-nuclear bunkers, these environments are imbued with both potential and threat: within them, Avery’s young protagonists chart unconventional paths, transforming everyday objects into symbolic armor for selfhood.

Avery is deeply invested in the power of young people to champion change in the face of flawed social and political landscapes, economic and environmental crises. Basing her subjects on her children and their peers, the artist points particularly to the burden placed on the young by previous generations’ contributions to climate change. Her large-scale oils on canvas, often multi-paneled, draw simultaneously on genres of history painting, religious altarpieces, and portraiture, yet produce a wholly new psychological effect. A sense of disidentification with the world pervades, capturing the simultaneous sense of despair and hope, frustration and determination, that characterizes coming of age in the contemporary moment.

Programs: 

• Opening Reception, September 28, 2-4pm

• Artist’s Talk, October 6, 1-2pm

• Collage Workshop, November 17. 1-4pm