CURATORIAL PREFACE: Ian Amell explores global absurdities, large and small. In his recent work Amell takes a look at our fatal attraction to nuclear energy. As Neros, we all fiddle while Rome burns.
Antonia Lancaster, Curator

IAN AMELL: The atomic testing in 1945 saw the beginning of the most significant “Age” in the history of humankind since the ability to make fire.  We have all shared in that inheritance. However, the Atomic Age has shown to be a double-edged promise: “better living” through unlimited power but also nuclear waste and the  memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sixty-one years of nuclear weapon testing has put a pall on the psyche of the entire world. In spite of this, like a car crash, we are all intrigued with the images of nuclear explosions. Reminiscent of religious icons, we are in awe of them and in effect deify them and their mystique. Like Jehovah of old, nuclear energy can be a stern taskmaster creating both fear and beauty. In as much as we are all affected by the spread of “radio active fallout” from over 2000 nuclear explosions since 1945 and that we have all lived under the threat of nuclear war, we are all hibakusha (”bomb affected people”).
Ian Amell, Artist
 
BIO: Ian Amell graduated with a BFA [Hon.] from the University of Manitoba. He has designed products sold throughout North America and has exhibited his art in Canada and internationally. His artwork is represented in private collections in Canada, the U.S.A. and France.