The Albert Merola Gallery presents this exhibition of new work by Tabitha Vevers titled Ascension. These paintings express the range of moods, emotions, hopes and fears of living through our current situation in the world. In the artist’s own words: 

“I found myself creating meditative, mandala-like images as a means of navigating the pandemic period. I am an optimist at heart and while the work bears witness to our shared experience, I hope it also points the way to calmly rising above and beyond it. Quiet Fire was one of the first, embracing a positive side to the social isolation of cozily hunkering down at home. Fear and the two Target paintings emerged as representations of the social and political turmoil that have enveloped this country. The stars and stripes of the American flag morph into the gaping jaw of a shark. The flaming aura of the sun encapsulates a bisected target form that undulates with changing spatial and pattern relationships as one gazes upon it, while the airy background evokes our new consciousness of every breath we take.

The exuberance of Irrational Optimism is counterbalanced by Ascension/Descension, which can be hung either way up, depending on the ebb and flow of one’s mood. Pond Swim, Midday encapsulates the daily swims that have helped sustain me through this period. The Japanese refer to such repeating triangles as “uroko,” referencing the scales of fish—a pattern often worn by the Samurai as a talisman against harm. I feel this sense of protection as I immerse myself fish-like into the rippling waters of the Cape’s ponds, at once united with, and socially distanced from, the friends who join me. As a child I used to walk to beaches of Provincetown looking for “luck rocks,” worn gray beach stones with their individual and yet perfect single white bands. Hope and Offerings are my secular prayers.”