NATALIE NIBLACK
Oil Train Explosion, Night, Oil on Canvas, 
24” X 28”, 2018
Folly
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January 31st -- March 1st, 2020
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Opening Reception: Saturday, February 1st, 4 -- 6 pm
Artist Talk : Saturday, February 15th, 4 pm
Estuary, Oil on canvas, 
66" X 36"
, 2019
i.e. is very pleased to present a solo exhibit of Natalie Niblack's most recent body of work entitled "Folly". Fearlessly dealing with the toughest topics in today's political world, Niblack does so with boundless imagination and skill in painting, drawing, ceramics, printmaking and silkscreening. This exhibit focuses largely on the paintings and ceramics from the past 2 years.
Niblack obtained her MFA in art from the Edinburgh College of Art in Edinburgh, Scotland. She has been a longtime resident of Fir Island in the Skagit Valley with her studio overlooking the Skagit River. She is an active participant in the fertile art scene that comes with the territory. But her landscapes are of another sort. Niblack brings us a memorable body of work that is meant to be seen with our eyes wide open. Please join us.
Ship of Fools I, Oil on Wood, 10" x 10", 2019
Ship of Fools III, Oil on Wood, 12” X 12”, 2019
Artist Statement
"My current painting, drawing, and graphic work reflect a pervading sense of accelerated change in our culture - change in the climate, environment, politics, and war.
It addresses the experience of living in the Anthropocene, where everything around us is impacted by human activity, and is a product of our collective consent and participation... While driving my diesel car over the tracks of a major railway for oil and coal near my home, I simultaneously know about the fossil fuel industry and it’s attendant callous disregard for the environment, when broken pipelines and devastated watersheds are an acceptable risk, simply collateral damage. It is this disconnect between our collective actions and their consequences that fuels this body of work. It asks viewers to recognize their participation in the climate emergency, and that the choices we have collectively made is inevitably and irrevocably altering the world around us."
Rudy Tooti, Ceramic, found objects, 13” X 11” X 11”, 2020
"In my ceramic work, I am deliberately lampooning people in power. When dealing with the three ring circus of politics, I find clay is my favorite media. Traditionally seen as less refined than painting, it is more acceptable to be satirical and use exaggeration. Because there is a long tradition from gargoyles to Messerschmidt to Arneson, there is a lot more room for distortion and caricature, which to me is the appropriate approach to the subject matter. Although the subjects are temporary, and (with luck) soon forgotten, the grab for power eternally reproduces itself. They are distressingly familiar archetypes straight out of a Machiavellian daydream or a dystopian tarot: the Narcissist, the Sycophant, the Holy man, or the heartless Judge. I feel I have met them before in the great graphic works of Daumier, Goya, or Hogarth. I draw inspiration from these artists because they do one of the things that art does best: holds up a mirror and laughs."