This is a powerful work in which one side illustrates the text of a letter sent in 538 AD by the Roman statesman Cassiodourous. In the letter he vividly describes his experience of an eclipse and then comments upon the changing climate of the period, "The seasons seem to be all jumbled together....we have had a winter without storms, a spring without mildness and a summer without heat." All of this seems very familiar to us in the present moment, and coupled with the reference to Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" (1963), both serve to reinforce our own concerns and alarm at our rapidly changing environment, and the urgency to do something about it. This work eloquently translates into visual form these existential threats that the global community currently faces.
Erik Ruin describes himself on his website as "...a Michigan-raised, Philadelphia-based printmaker, shadow puppeteer, paper-cut artist, etc., who has been lauded by the New York Times for his "spell-binding cut-paper animations." His work oscillates between the poles of apocalyptic anxieties and utopian yearnings, with an emphasis on empathy, transcendence and obsessive detail. He frequently works collaboratively with musicians, theater performers, other artists and activist campaigns. He is a founding member of the international Justseeds Artists' Cooperative".
8 double-sided pages, individually 8.5" x 5", unfolded 3ft 4".
