by Aidan Rumack
NECTAR is a solo show by Aidan Rumack examining the paradoxical relationship between protecting and entrapping through worldly symbols such as bees, birds and astronauts. NECTAR prominently features Gargoyle in the center of the exhibition, a ten-foot tall multimedia architectural sculpture. Gargoyle forces the viewer to peer through radiant lights to reveal a meditating spaceman adorned with a reflective 24k gold helmet. Gargoyle’s spaceman is rendered frozen while floating in an illusionistic white void confronting the viewer’s relationship between humanity and space. Alongside Gargoyle, NECTAR features artworks from Rumack’s Remnants and Extraction series both prominently focusing on the honey bee. Remnants forcefully combines nature and industry by entombing bees in bubble wrap encased in colorful mirrored acrylic. Extraction symbolically combines nature and industry by using reverent bee images rendered with gold luster scratch-off ink used regularly in the production of lottery tickets. Through Gargoyle, Remnants, and Extraction artworks, Aidan Rumack’s NECTAR exhibition confronts the audience with imagery and structures never seen before while blending universal concepts of pollination and colonization.
