​Artist Statement 

​

In my second solo exhibition at Moremen Contemporary Gallery, I concentrated on exploring themes of beauty within living environments while addressing the challenges posed by residing next to one of the largest men’s migrant shelters in the United States.

Using metal leaves, paint, photographs, and used objects, I created an installation that illustrates the poignant, chaotic, and sometimes dangerous surroundings accompanying living alongside over four thousand men spontaneously sheltered in a warehouse near my Brooklyn apartment building beginning in June 2023.

The show unfolds with serene scenes from recent memory: large, realistically rendered drawings of swans and ducks swimming in silvered glass ponds. Next, mirror-like images of familiar plants and landscapes grow increasingly camouflaged as one walks through the space. The hallway degrades as torn and rumpled photographs of current neighborhood street scenes litter the floor alongside rows of gilded and painted shoes representing my American and immigrant neighbors. Above them, small, golden glass drawings illustrate flashes of happiness or connection we have shared amidst the chaos. These drawings form a makeshift yellow brick road that shepherds viewers toward two final scenes, one pastoral, the other my new reality. Both scenes are beautiful, but the beauty is difficult to see. 

​

Artist Bio

​

​Anne Peabody's multidisciplinary practice involves correlating human experience and the natural world. She uses various organic and recycled materials, including plants, wood, glass, and metal, to expand and evolve a body of landscape-based art that includes installation, performance, sculpture, drawing, and textiles. Her artwork is intentionally difficult to capture through photography. The artist's compositions are defined by the interplay of light and different materials, resulting in dynamic shifts in appearance that are influenced by the viewer's position and environment. 
Peabody, a native of Kentucky, currently resides and works in New York City. She has participated in major international group exhibitions, including Glasstress: Venice Biennale, Fondazione Berengo, Murano, Italy, 2022. Glasstress: Window to the Future, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia 2021; Unbreakable: Women in Glass, Fondazione Berengo, Murano, Italy, 2020; It's Happening, Central Park, New York City, USA, 2017;  Glasstress, Millesgarden Museum, Stockholm, Sweden,  2014, Universes in Universe, the 54th Venice Biennale, 2011; and Making Worlds 53rd Venice Biennale, 2009. Previous awards received include Wallentas Cultural Space Subsidy in 2015 and 2018, MOREart Residency in 2014, and Washington University in St. Louis' Sam Fox Paris Residency in 2018 and 2021. In 2012, Glass Quarterly recognized her as one of the 50 artists whose work in glass will be the most important in the next 50 years. Her work is permanently held in public collections across the US, Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. These collections include The J.B. Speed Art Museum, 21c Museums, BoodaiCorp, BP, DIOR, Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospitals, The Kentucky Center, KMAC, and Fondazione Berengo. Her work has been reviewed by major publications, including The New York Times, Art News, Art in America, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Glass Quarterly, Art Forum, and Hyperallergic.