Excursion (noun): (1.) a short journey or trip, especially one engaged in as a leisure activity. (2.) a deviation from a regular pattern, path, or level of operation. (3.) A sudden, very rapid rise in the power level of a nuclear reactor caused by supercriticality, or an increase in the level of operation of the reactor.
Ukrainian artist Marat Paransky is set to host his solo exhibition Excursions starting April 22 at The Lab in St. Joseph’s Krasl Art Center. Paranksy is a sculptor, painter, photographer, and mixed-media artist living and working in Farmington Hills. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1986, much of his work for this project is rooted in childhood memories. Paransky has an MFA in Visual Arts from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. He has exhibited throughout the United States, spanning from Boston to San Francisco.
Excursions displays artwork in response to highly visible disasters. In 2010, Paransky began making sculptures from household items related to nuclear emergencies and human health. The objects were consciously built on second-hand memories of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and its ties to his childhood. Since then, the installation has grown to consider other catastrophes and his responses to them.
“Today, I think of my work as a museum of sculptures, photographs, drawings, paintings, prints, and an archive of books and articles,” Paransky said. “When the works are displayed together, they bounce themes, forms and ideas off of each other … This interdependence among the works functions to discourage the typical black-and-white thinking that plagues the debate on nuclear. After all, I find that I am much more interested in its surrounding myths, uncertainty, and absurdity.”
Join Paransky for Open Lab, a preview reception on Friday, April 21, from 6-8 p.m. with an artist talk at 7 p.m. The reception offers the creative and curious a chance to learn more about the art on view, ask questions, and exchange ideas with the artist. Light refreshments provided.
The exhibit will run through June 25. Learn more about the exhibition and events online at krasl.org/in-the-lab-excursions-by-marat-paransky
