March 26 - April 24
Animal Tracks leads you into Pleban’s dreamlike world, where the tender relationship between man, animal, and the environment is in harmony. Dappled beams of light and otherworldly atmospheres entangle themselves in the landscape, creating vivid scenes.
Drawn from musical influences, art history, nature documentaries, and personal photographic archives, Pleban’s visual language is rich and sumptuous. The familiar touchstones provide a safe and inviting passage into the unknown wonder.
"The title of the exhibition is derived from a song, Animal Tracks, by female American folk trio, Mountain Man. The song conjures nostalgic images of youthful summer expeditions following the tracks of small animals and one’s intuitions.
My process of painting is also intuitive. I add and subtract layers of oil and wax, the images take shape and develop over time. During this embodied process, I’m thinking about ideas that emerge through music and through themes I’ve been mulling over for some time, inspired by documentaries, books and art history. That said, there are no fixed meanings in the work. These paintings inhabit their own unexplained space." Stephen Pleban 2026