Facing national stay-at-home requests, the Mayflower Mobile Gallery—the Benson-based travel trailer for art exhibitions—decided to stay put for a while. Organizers turned it into the next best thing, a residency venue for artists, who would then put on display the works created within this isolated studio.
MaMO’s inaugural resident is Omaha sculptor Travis Apel, and the public will have a socially-distanced opportunity to view his current undertaking—Makes Know Since—on Benson’s First Friday, June 5 from 6-9pm at 5603 NW Radial Highway.
Apel is known for his biomorphic sculptures whose organic shapes resonate with a perceived vulnerability of flora and fauna. Working at the intersection of city sprawl and nature, Apel collects abandoned synthetic materials and combines them with organic matter to emphasize the tension of our imbalanced world.
With Makes Know Since, Apel “imagines a dystopic projection where the remnants of civilization retreat to the forest, only to find the petrol-state has found refuge there.” The artist will fashion wall sculpture, wearable sculpture and ceiling suspended works from such salvaged fossil fuel products as plastics, rubber additives and auto glass with organic garden refuse to shed light on the current state of environmental entanglement. The installation will be powered by a solar array.
Find MaMO featuring Travis Apel parked at the City Lights Art Project, 5603 NW Radial Highway. The opening is live and in person for visitors wearing masks and observing social distancing protocols. For any changes or updates to the exhibition and venue, visit www.bffomaha.org or https://www.facebook.com/MaMOgallery/.