As Above, So Below
Carnation Contemporary, Portland Oregon
2022
Whether it’s looking upwards to alien flying squirrels in the sky, or downwards to anthropomorphized rocks underfoot, artists and colleagues Maria Lux and Kyle Peets seek the weird, humorous, and miraculous. In their dual exhibition, As Above, So Below, rocks become extra-terrestrial, and the UFO-squirrels become terrestrial as thought circles from the ground to the sky and back. The gesture of listening to the unknown and the spirit of the imaginary are applied to rocks and alien flying squirrels to attempt, in flawed terms, to empathize with them. Play and the suspension of disbelief are used to shift perspectives towards the more-than-human to destabilize hierarchical ways of looking/acting at the world.