ALEXANDER REISFAR

FIRESIDE SMOKE SHOW

feature

September 22nd - October 15th, 2023

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Arch Enemy Arts is pleased to present: FIRESIDE SMOKE SHOW, our debut solo feature of Portland artist, Alexander Reisfar. 

 

This body of work, as Resifar states, is a response to starting a family amidst the charged social and political tensions at present, and his anxieties of doing so under the growing threat of fascism. To Alex, this impressionable juxtaposition of setting hopeful futures against the backdrop of a burning world reveals the theme of this feature, as-inspired by his acquisition of a 1944 book– similarly titled Fireside Tales. His work centers around a mournful dichotomy: the sanctity and defilement of the concept of home. This contrast provides fertile ground for Reisfar to interpret the stories being told to comfort children, with parents needing to suspend their own disbelief, as the horrors of modern life rage on. 

 

Through his trademark phantasmagoric imagery, the artist evokes esoterica through metaphors housed in late Gothic architecture. Figures melt into scrolling acanthi as clowns and wolf-headed soldiers battle to the death. A seated mother evaporates before her children as a spectral maiden bathes in the vapor of her departing spirit. Dark and psychedelic, Fireside Smoke Show exhibits domestic angst alongside glaring brutality, exposing the roaring undercurrent of decaying mythology within the narrative of the American dream.

 

Reisfar is self-taught in acrylic painting and was raised by artistic parents whom he credits in exposing him to creative outlets early on. He has since created album art and commissions for bands such as Mastodon, Opeth, TOOL, and others.

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- Alex Medlin II

 

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FIRESIDE SMOKE SHOW will be on view from September 22nd - October 15th, 2023.
Sold works will begin to ship the week starting October 22nd, unless other rush arrangements have been made.

Items marked with a red dot have already been sold.

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