“Moat” (oil on stretched canvas), by Boston-based artist Eben Haines, in his show “In The Houses of Empire: Everything’s Fine,’’ at the Cory Daniels Gallery, Wells, Maine, Aug. 13-Sept. 17.
The gallery says:
“Haines’s works investigate the life of objects, emphasizing the constructed nature of history. Many works explore altered conventions of portraiture, through figures and objects pictured against cinematic backdrops or in otherworldly scenes. His paintings and installations employ various techniques and materials to suggest the passage of time and volatility, set within displaced domestic structures, critiquing the unbalanced systems we take for granted and overlook. Comets race across the skies of bucolic landscapes, Roman portrait busts stand in for the corrupting force of unchecked power. Candles appear to signal that time is running out, floating before cloaked figures whose identities remain circumspect. Recent works consider themes such as climate change and systemic housing insecurity before and during the pandemic, exploring the illusionistic systems meriting human rights like shelter, food, and healthcare to the privileged few.’’
