Vacationland is an exhibition that is centered on three artists who grew up, or have spent a great deal of their formative artistic years in Maine.

The title refers to the state’s idea of itself as a place for retreat, both literally and, (in this case) spiritually. The understanding here is that this title refers to some imaginary place somewhere just outside the boundaries of the art world and its “gravitational pull”, somehow mysteriously free from the hyper-consciousness and market forces exerted by the “black hole” of New York City. This “place”, this Vacationland is, of course fictional, the artists here are all formally schooled and highly regarded inside this system, but in some fashion all are currently engaged in a twenty to thirty year struggle to carve out some freedoms for themselves and their new works which can each be traced back individually to some original impulse, some geist that comes from Maine: the ambient northern light of a late September, the remoteness and harsh winters and how those conditions might form a spirit of quiet resolve, these ideas all contribute to the “how” of that place, and what it means emotionally, and finally for all the artists here… visually.