The Missoula Art Museum (MAM), founded in 1975, is one of the leading contemporary art museums in the Intermountain West. One of MAM’s recent exhibitions featured Entanglements by Eric Carlson, an archaeologist and archaeological illustrator. The exhibition included 15 complex, large scale paintings exploring the entanglements of living organisms and processes of change.
According to the artist’s statement:
“These paintings are in motion, alive, energized by the creatures who inhabit them.
The work depicts durations, not snapshots or moments stuck in time. The worlds released from stasis flow into one another, passing through permeable boundaries of flora and fauna.
…The paintings direct attention to our nation’s valued natural spaced and the importance of direct engagement with them. The simple process of sitting, sketching, seeing, and remembering in these natural settings honors the places and the creatures who reside there, and who continue to build entangled worlds.”
Shown below are some of the paintings from this exhibit.
Shown above is Crow and Stingray: How the Ocean is Transported to the Sky, Olympic Peninsula, 2021.
Shown above is Caribou and Centauresses in Musket (with an Intrusion by Raven), Alaskan Arctic, 2020.
Shown above is Pleistocene Entanglements, 2020.
Shown above is Giantess (Combining Baudelaire and Montana), 2020.
Shown above is a detail from Giantess.
Shown above is Two Birds Transporting Water to The Sky, 2020.
Shown above is a detail from Two Birds Transporting Water to The Sky.
Shown above is a detail from Two Birds Transporting Water to The Sky.
Shown above is Head Full of Ravens, Legs Like Wolves, 2020.
Shown above is a detail from Head Full of Ravens, Legs Like Wolves.
Shown above is Mink and Raven (Intertidal), Southeast Alaska, 2020.
Shown above is a detail from Mink and Raven (Intertidal).
Shown above is a detail from Mink and Raven (Intertidal).
Shown above is Leviathan, Estuary, Near the Mouth of the Wailuku River, Hilo, HI, 2020.
Shown above is Wild Boar and Mongoose, Hilo, HI, 2020.
Shown above is a detail from Wild Boar and Mongoose.
Shown above is a detail from Wild Boar and Mongoose.
Shown above is Unmoored, 2020.
Shown above is a detail from Unmoored.
Shown above is a detail from Unmoored.
Shown above is a detail from Unmoored.
Shown above is a detail from Unmoored.
More museum exhibit photo tours
Museums 101: Montana Legacy (photo diary)
Museums 101: Love Notes (art diary)
Museums 101: Curious (art diary)
Museums 101: Montana Entanglements (art diary)
Museums 101: Quilted cats (art diary)
Museums 101: The Maryhill Sculpture Park (Photo Diary)
Museums 101: Romanian Royal Artifacts (Photo Diary)
Museums 101: Constructing African-American Identity (Photo Diary)