Join Arch Enemy Arts in a journey of artistic exploration, where creativity looks out to the horizon of unlimited possibility. You are invited to delve into the deep – a space where the only limit is one’s own imagination. Through these diverse collections, the vision of the artist is seen and deeply felt as if manifesting emotion with each stylistic expression and interpretation – casts an extension from creator to viewer.
Arch Enemy Arts welcomes you to be part of the experience as they honor BEYOND TIDES 4 group exhibition – DOWN THE SHORE, Allison Sommers – POND SONG, Emma Black – THE WORLD DISAPPEARS and Shannon Taylor – GOBLIN.
BEYOND TIDES 4 Group Exhibition | Allison Sommers – POND SONG | Emma Black – THE WORLD DISAPPEARS | Shannon Taylor – GOBLIN
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
BEYOND TIDES 4, DOWN THE SHORE
June 21 – July 13, 2025
Press // This week we release our fourth installment of “Beyond Tides 4,” a group exhibition we began back in the summer of 2021 that seeks to honor the water and all it inspires.
To put a fresh spin on one of our most popular group show series, we asked artists from across the country and all over the world to create a piece that plays with the regional phrase, “Down the Shore.” The result is an incredibly diverse collection of stellar work that pays homage to the sea, salt, and sand that we absolutely cannot wait to share.
“Beyond Tides 4: Down the Shore” releases to our collectors on Thursday, 6/19 at 2pm est and opens to the public on Saturday 6/21. It will remain on view through July 13th with a Closing Reception scheduled for July 11th (5-9pm).
Exhibiting Artists// Aaron Robert Baker, Adam Wallacavage, Alex Achaval, Amy Sol, Brad Gray, By Nick, Erica Peebus, Eva Toorenent, Garrett Cook, Gerlanda di Francia, Ian “Bub” Davis, Joey Chiarello, John Rego, Kit Mizeres, Lana Crooks, Lori Nelson, Miriam Frank, MK Komins, Nick Sheehy, Nom Kinnear King, Perrilla, Ryoko Rio, Sarah Lee, Shelby Clark-Glass, Tina Yu, Wiley Wallace, and Yulia Putoshkina.
ALLISON SOMMERS, POND SONG
June 6th – July 6th, 2025
Arch Enemy Arts presents POND SONG by Allison Sommers (based in Berlin, b.1983). The show consists of fifteen paintings and drawings exhibited with an installation of hand-tufted, tear-shaped bathmats to create a visceral waterscape of flesh and feeling. Swamp-born icons and celestial imagery reflect Sommers’ experience of pain, their tenacity through grief, and a reclamation of their own body.
“While I was painting this show, I was diagnosed with both endometriosis and fibromyalgia, undergoing surgery for the former in January…I was [already] thinking a lot about hiding, and carving a sort of utopian space for myself away from the abject horror of the world—a stable, safe ‘locus amoenus’ within which to lick wounds and cower. I became obsessed with the concept of the garden, both in its artificial containment and allegory of paradise in miniature. As I went deeper, I realized that, not only was this a recurring theme, but it suddenly became urgent in my immediate life as I descended into life-altering chronic pain and concomitant depression…
“The related struggles, frustrations, and grief became a prominent theme throughout the work and sometimes showed up literally—bathing and swimming are now vitally important to me, and so my garden became a flooded forest (see also: rug tufted bathmats); most of the figures have prominent laparoscopy scars mirroring my own. Self-care and honesty about my own body took on a new primacy in my life. Pain and how I am navigating through it bled deeply into the work, but in the end, I want it to also be a yawp of joy and defiance.” – Allison Sommers
In POND SONG, Sommers paints the human form released from spatial constraint. Bodies leak, stretch and evolve. Roots entangle the spine and leaves grow from intestines. It’s grotesque, beautiful, and sacred. Throughout the collection, Sommers makes classical references to religion, antiquity, and the constellation Cassiopeia, also known as the “W,” which never sets in the Northern hemisphere. These symbols remind us of the recurrent nature of all things, how life and identity ebbs and flows, flounders and triumphs. The work offers feelings, not answers; a space where the spiritual blends with the corporeal to suggest the boundlessness of lived experience.
Allison Sommers grew up on Cold War era Air Force bases in the Southern United States. A self-taught artist, Sommers graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in History and a concentration in Early Modern England. They began showing with Arch Enemy Arts in 2014 and relocated to Berlin six years ago. POND SONG is Sommers’ first solo feature with the gallery.
EMMA BLACK, THE WORLD DISAPPEARED
June 6th – July 6th, 2025
In Hindu philosophy, ‘dark splendor’ refers to the profound spiritual truth that can come from darkness; when the world disappears, the fear and complexity that replaces it has the power to enrich our lives. Emma Black’s latest collection, THE WORLD DISAPPEARED, reminds us of this principle through eight oil paintings on wood in which captivating yet formidable beauty emerges from the void.
“My work is deeply personal, a reflection of my journey in shedding the weight of past experiences and stepping into a space of renewal. The imagery of skulls intertwined with florals and portraiture symbolizes transformation—skulls as remnants of the past, flowers as growth, and the human form as the ever-evolving self.
“At its core, THE WORLD DISAPPEARED is about catharsis and empowerment… embracing the duality of darkness and beauty, loss and rebirth, and using art as a means to turn pain into something meaningful. It’s a confrontation with what we carry and an invitation to let go. I hope the show resonates with those who have faced their own struggles and reminds them that growth often emerges from the darkest places.”
– Emma Black
Black’s work has always had a seductive sense of danger, but in this series, the artist employs a vibrant, even electric palette that lends to her message of redemption. Deep, black shadows accentuate forms swathed in teal, pink, lime green, and magenta. Skulls, spiders, and disembodied eyeballs entwine with orchids, butterflies, and mantises for a portrait of peaceful majesty that only comes when one dives into the dark.
Emma Black (UK, b.1990) graduated with Honors from University of Westminster and received her Masters in 2016 from Cambridge School of Art. She began showing with Arch Enemy Arts in 2019, and THE WORLD DISAPPEARED is her second solo feature with the gallery.
SHANNON TAYLOR, GOBLIN
June 6th – July 6th, 2025
For a thousand years, goblins have been stealing and stashing shiny, gold and precious things. Think Gringott’s bank, Gollum from Lord of the Rings, or even Norman Osborn, whose greed, in part, transformed him into the Green Goblin in Spiderman. This trope of the goblin’s greed makes you wonder what riches are in store in Shannon Taylor’s newest collection—GOBLIN—twenty-one captivating watercolor collages set inside miniature antiques.
“When people look at my work, I want them to feel like goblins, only satisfied when their pockets bulge with shiny art-treasure. I have been feeling more and more like a goblin myself lately. There is a degree of safeguarding and protection at the forefront of my mind (combined with a need for productive mischief and good trouble). Art-making addresses my concern for the current state of the world; no Gods, no masters or dictators can change my heart or take what I treasure most.” – Shannon Taylor
Taylor pieces together a different world, one that’s filled with magic, freedom and wonder. The works in GOBLIN mark a whole new level of ingenuity from the artist, whose prolific portfolio is already so inspired. GOBLIN has some of the smallest narrative fantasies we’ve ever seen; a handful are less than an inch on all sides, plus even more elaborately layered and dimensional large circular compacts. Taylor’s ability to manipulate miniscule cuts of paper with precision and versatility is incredible, and she masterfully considers how the content works in tandem with each found-object antique.
In this way, Taylor’s teeny-tiny work feels like a much larger journey. It’s a magical adventure through cascading waterfalls and flower-laden fields, where skeletons the size of your pinky-nail rise to get their freak on and kindly spirits dance beneath a rainbow-filled sky.
Shannon Taylor (Oakland, b.1984) has an MFA in Illustration from University of the Arts London, Camberwell, and she currently teaches at California College of the Arts in San Francisco, her undergraduate alma mater. Taylor began showing with Arch Enemy Arts in 2019, exhibiting 2D watercolor paintings for four years before switching to her current style of sculptural collage in 2023. GOBLIN is Taylor’s fifth solo show with the gallery; she has sold out her most recent three solos with us and established a collector-base from all over the world.
About the Gallery //
Founded in 2012, Arch Enemy Arts is an exhibition space for established and emerging artists from all over the world, actively working in the vast and imaginative movement of New Contemporary Art. The curation at Arch Enemy Arts focuses on representational drawing, painting, and sculpture with emphasis in pop surrealism, magical realism, and post-graffiti genres. Our programming provides access to a range of artistic expression through a variety of styles and mediums with dedication to showcasing the strikingly unconventional, highly technical, and utterly bizarre.
