Dreams from the Anthropocene: December 12, 2024

Robin Hextrum has been making paintings that address climate change since 2011. Throughout these years, her work has evolved in various ways, but it always returns to environmental concerns. Many of her paintings utilize a surrealist juxtaposition of incongruous elements to call attention to climate issues. For example, combining icebergs with opulent imagery from traditional Dutch paintings asks us to examine the historical legacy and environmental impacts of our ever-demanding needs for material wealth. And, her paintings of animals taking over prestigious human spaces like museums and palaces ask viewers to rethink the dominance of human centered narratives. We now live in a new geological epoch known as the “Anthropocene.” This period refers to the significant human impact on species extinction and the climate since 1950. It is difficult to comprehend this degree of harm and responsibility. Hextrum believes art provides a valuable platform for processing the existential threat of climate change that can be both healing and transformative in its call to action.