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Each December Gilman Contemporary celebrates the diversity of the artists they bring to Sun Valley with a dynamic group exhibition. This year the gallery teases future summer exhibitions including Carmen McNall and Mayme Kratz, who will have solo exhibitions in 2023. Also featured in December’s group exhibit are gallery newcomers Matt Duffin and Ghislain Brown-Kossi. Matt Duffin explores the themes of solitude and irony through moody and “neurotically meticulous” encaustic wax paintings. He uses the stark contrast of extreme light and shadow, as well as strong compositional strategies, to enhance his implied narratives creating works that are simultaneously dark and humorous. Ghislain Brown-Kossi’s childhood in France and Ivory Coast heritage feed his work as an archeological pop artist. Mixed dialects and cultures inspire his colorful, bold, and geometric work with hieroglyphic symbols emerging through sand. Gilman will also present works by local artist Jill Lear, Brazilian artist Thai Mainhard, and Hunt Slonem whose art can be found in the permanent collections of 250 museums around the world including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Pictured work is Carmen McNall’s “Enfold in a Greater Space #3”, acrylic on hand carved wood panel.

“I like to think of the winter season as a time for the land itself to rest. Zero human activity, the silence of falling snow in one of the most remote places on earth is enchanting and reflective.” -Tuck Fauntleroy Fauntleroy’s focus for his Burn series are wildfire affected regions in Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. They represent a mixed perspective with some images shot aerially and others shot from the ground. Like much if his other work, the aerial images were captured flying over the territory via small single engine airplanes from an open window for an unobstructed lens. Burn is timely and relevant in the current environment of climate change and the proliferation of recent fires across the western US and globally. The massive 1988 Yellowstone fires were a wake-up-call and significant warning of destruction and foreshadowing of the cost of climate events. Warming, drought, and the resulting fires have never been more dangerous. The photographs are careful compositions of positive and negative space while capturing the elegant lines and shapes created by a natural landscape scared by flame. Critical to the series is the the idea of taking something more commonly perceived as unsightly, ...

“My work is very emotional by nature. I rely on colors to set the atmosphere and play off of each other like our emotions do inside of us.” -Thai Mainhard Brazilian born painter Thai Mainhard’s practice harnesses her own raw and immediate need to create. Each abstract painting combines expressive mark making with dense blocks of color exploring the opposing forces that make up our lives. Mainhard encounters human nature, exploring happiness, frustration, surprise, connection, spirituality, and overall thinking processing. Each of her works is emotional; it is a lush expression of her inner jungle. Going through a deep internal process, the artist creates artwork that represents human nature’s fragility and opposes it to the robustness of emotions and feelings.