Reception: Thursday, September 6, 6 - 8 pm

Utopia, a solo exhibition of the works by Tracy Powers, explores our fascination with the amusement park experience.  The show is on view at First Street Gallery September 4th through September 29th, with an opening reception Thursday September 6th, 6-8 pm.

The amusement park is the landscape of the modern American condition, where happiness is monetary and spirituality is the defiance of our physical limitations.  This collection of work explores this new frontier of American culture, where the beauty of the natural world is denied in favor of an artificial Utopia.  Yet this Utopian environment is flawed, an attempt at perfection that is in constant conflict with its surrounding human, natural condition.  The imagery of Powers' work epitomizes these commonplace environments as representation of our culture's quest for happiness through a fabricated existence.

Byron Coleman writes, "Powers includes a great deal of detail, yet skirts fussiness by virtue of her vivacious brushwork and strong sense of form." (Gallery and Studio Magazine, Vol. 11, No. 5, New York 2009).  By using the representational imagery as a catalyst for color, energy, motion and emotion, Powers captures the visual and emotional chaos within this iconic American pastime.

Tracy Powers earned her MFA in Painting from Western Connecticut State University in 2009 and her BA in Studio Art with Honors from Moravian College in 1996.  She lives and works in Connecticut.