As we approach the end of 2023, let’s take a moment amidst the busy holiday season to cherish the things that bring us happiness and gratitude. Share our appreciation for the arts community and join Arch Enemy Arts as they honor the works of Emily White and Alex Kuno, as well as their exciting pop-up group exhibition Aqua Art Miami, featuring a variety of immersive 12″ x 12″ panel works in different styles and interpretations.
Ruminate on each collection, appreciating the artist’s intent. Enjoy the thoughtful composition that lends itself to the creative voice and let the overall impact wash over you with meaningful introspection.
Emily White, Alex Kuno, Aqua Art Miami
Exhibition Dates: December 1 – 31, 2023
Arch Enemy Arts
109 Arch Street | Philadelphia, PA 19106 USA | (215) 717-7774
For sales or private viewing appointments, please email info@archenemyarts.com
Regular Gallery Hours:
CLOSED MONDAY & TUESDAY
• Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 10am – 4pm
• Saturdays & Sundays: 11am – 5pm
EMILY WHITE
WATERS RISING
Arch Enemy Arts presents WATERS RISING, a new body of work by local artist Emily White, who captures–with flawless precision and a touch of wry humor–the urgency facing wildlife today. White’s approach to wildlife painting, though strikingly naturalistic, transcends mere representation. She aims to evoke a deeper understanding of the fleeting beauty and profound loss of environmental degradation.
“There is the unifying thread of water throughout my work in this series, and WATERS RISING can refer to rising tensions,” White explains. “If we don’t change our actions, it will continue to rise until parts of the United States, and the world, will be underwater.”
Yet within these concerning and razor-sharp depictions, the artist gives voice to animal plight by adding a keen sense of irony. Her polar bear is stranded alone, not on an iceberg but balancing an ocean buoy. Her orcas have truly become “killer whales,” banding together to sink a sailing ship. And her jaguar sits unphased atop a sunken car.
“Animals’ and humans’ lives are becoming more and more enmeshed,” she explains. “And dealing with this type of natural event is more comfortable for the animal than for us.” Perhaps that is how the balance of nature is eventually restored–when the havoc we’ve wreaked upends not only the animals’ lives but our own.
Emily White graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston with a focus in sculpture. Now working in acrylic, her paintings are exhibited and collected internationally, and she has created public mural installations throughout Philadelphia. This is White’s second feature with Arch Enemy Arts since her sold out debut feature show last year.
– written by Candice Musher
ALEX KUNO
YONDER
Arch Enemy Arts presents YONDER by Alex Kuno, a series of ten awe-inspiring and otherworldly works that document objects, characters, and encounters from the gardenscape of endless unreality. With eerie lighting, earthy palettes, and curving horizons, YONDER exists in a sacred dimension. It is a place of people akin yet totally removed from our own.
I’ve heard myself describe [my paintings] as religious artwork with God removed,” Kuno tells AEA. “It may seem strange considering how the work became what it is, but I originally went into this project intending to explore themes of peace and comfort.
In this metaphysical realm, Kuno chronicles strange rituals of sympathy, solace, camaraderie, and consolation. His emotional depths allow one to peel one’s own skin to confer with oneself (“Secret Conversation”) or cry in the arms of an older future (“Melters”). Introspection becomes a ceremonial if not social event (“Spring Cleaning”) where inside is out and outside is in, and spiritual lives have a life of their own.
Alex Kuno lives and works in the Lowertown Arts District in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1999 and has “been teaching [himself] how to be an artist every day ever since.” Arch Enemy Arts is proud to have shown Kuno’s work since 2017, and this is the artist’s second solo feature with the gallery.
– written by Candice Musher
Aqua Art Miami
December 6th – 10th, 2023
Booth 211 • Aqua Art Fair – Miami Beach, FL
Arch Enemy Arts is excited to announce a brand new pop-up exhibition to debut at The AQUA Art Fair in Miami Beach, FL from December 6th – 10th. We’re bringing with us an exciting 50 artist group show featuring 12″ x 12″ panel works in a variety of diverse styles and mediums that perfectly exemplify Arch Enemy’s unique curation. In addition to the impressive group show display we’ll also be featuring a brand new series of miniature collage compacts by the incredible Shannon Taylor.
About the Gallery //
Seeking to fill the need for a centralized hub focused exclusively on new contemporary genres within Philadelphia’s already vibrant art scene, Arch Enemy Arts was founded in 2012 and quickly became Philly’s freshest new venue dedicated to exhibiting emerging and established artists, both local and international. Located in Philadelphia’s Old City District, and with an emphasis on the lowbrow, pop-surrealism, urban, and macabre in a wide range of mediums, Arch Enemy Arts was chosen as Philadelphia Magazine’s “Best of Philly”™ Best Art Gallery for its 40th Anniversary issue, voted the “Best Art Gallery in Philadelphia” on Philly HotList in 2013, and in 2012.
Noah Musher // co-founder & owner
Lawren Alice // co-founder & curator