Earth to sky unites four artists who strive for transformative experiences when making art, both for themselves while creating in the studio and for their viewing audience, who see and reflect on the fruits of their labors and vision. The beauty and chaos of the natural world around us serve as stepping stones for each artist, unlocking deeper states of mind and an openness to more infinite spatial and psychological realms than we are generally privy to in day-to-day life.

Leaning towards complete abstraction, Angela China employs a multitude of unconventional tools and means to conjure paintings that suggest land, water, and sky, while still remaining non-representational at their core. Heavy applications of oil paint and pigment are followed by rounds of removal and rebuilding until the right poetry stops China in her tracks, telling her the work is done.

A like mind, Yehong Mao attempts to harness the nebulous energy of the cosmos in paintings that meld this energy with more earthly delights like flowers and waterfalls. Her visionary language and sensibility acquiesce to moments of representation, making these interjections feel meaningful as they drift in and out of focus like fireflies or strange portals into another universe.

In rich cerulean blues and tints of white, Loren Erdrich portrays mythological humanlike forms and enchanted forests that have been softened and diffused, allowing them to form in the sky like apparitions. Figures hover and glow, some flying with cascading wings, and inverted silhouettes of trees and branches bring to mind X-rays of our waking life dissolved into a dream.

Rob Ober approaches the great unknown through painting. His figurative and narrative explorations seek to capture something ineffable while also channeling a healthy dose of humor and pathos. The artist’s recent shift to oil paint from acrylic has infused his scenes with a lush painterly touch and feel, informed equally by history and the hallucination of letting go fully in the studio.