Mixed Media Paintings by Local Artist Bring Color and Abstract Thinking to Erie

Employing a variety of media, design principles, and aesthetic choices, local artist Dan Schank has brought a series of mixed media paintings to the Erie Art Museum that seek to make viewers question their surroundings and what they deem familiar.

“Plenty: Mixed Media Paintings by Dan Schank” opens viewers up to a world full of contradictions, mundane objects, and familiar-yet-foreign environments created with a wide variety of mediums working together to create large, chaotic and colorful works. Each piece is an exploration of “the ways that evangelical bombast, conspiratorial posturing and advertising campaigns overlap visually,” creating new worlds and spaces for art-lovers to explore.

With “Plenty,” Schank wants viewers to ask themselves questions, and he wants to make them think, with pieces inspired by UFOs, conspiracy theories, mysticism and more, “as applied to everyday spaces.”

Schank, who is based in the Erie area, has had works present in exhibits all over America, with his newest series being brought to art-lovers in his backyard for the first time at the Erie Art Museum. When not working on his art, he can be found teaching at Penn State Behrend and contributing to the Erie Reader.

In addition to “Plenty,” the Erie Art Museum hosts a collection of over 8,000 objects and is open yearround, Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m., with school tours and education programs available.

The Contemporary Music Series, representing everything, by everyone, will also take place this season, along with the two-day Blues & Jazz festival.

The museum can be reached online at erieartmuseum.org, or by phone, at (814) 459-5477.

Britton Rozzelle is The Arts Editor for The Spectator and he can be reached at ae.spectator@gmail.com.

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