New Earth Anatomy
New Earth Anatomy brings together the work of Briar M. Pine and Jack Snell-Ryan, exploring our ever-changing relationship with materiality, identity, technology, and the environment. The exhibition examines the concept of bodies, whether they be human, geological, or constructed, and how they are impacted and shaped by systems of power, perception, and extraction. While both artists execute these concepts in distinct ways, they both research the anatomy of our “new earth,” marred by ecological crisis, constructed identities, and the contested narrative of history.
Pine’s practice engages with rare earth mining, corporate greenwashing, and transmasculine identity, while allowing criticism towards concepts of environmental degradation and inherited systems and structures. Through a combination of photography, textiles, and sculpture, Pine seeks to expose how narratives of progress often obscure the consequences associated with overproduction and the formation of identity. Snell-Ryan’s work, grounded in experimentation and fabrication, shows the result of substantive research and studio practice.
Snell-Ryan treats the act of making as a thinking process and, in his recent works, has tended to shift towards the aesthetics of “low resolution”, favoring porous and open-ended forms that leave room for modification and re-interpretation. Together, Pine and Snell-Ryan ask viewers to consider what lies beneath the surface of our everyday lives: the raw materials, ideologies, and personal narratives that shape our collective reality.
The exhibition extends into the 1st Floor Hallway in VMMC and the Library entrance in VLIB. This curator statement was written by art student Jesse Velasco.
Jack Snell-Ryan studied at Hunter College, New York, and received an MFA with Distinction from the University of Georgia, Athens. He currently teaches at the University of Oregon and has been awarded notable fellowships from the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity and the Hallie Ford Fellowship from The Ford Family Foundation. Briar Pine (they/he) is a multidisciplinary artist and educator whose recent solo exhibitions include Ditch Projects, Charles Adams Studio Projects, and PAPA Projects. He received his BA in Art and BA in Journalism from the University of Minnesota and their MFA in Studio Art from Washington State University. They recently served as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Photography at the University of Oregon.