"Anne Siems: Fox and Friends"
400 First Avenue North
Ketchum, ID 83340
208-726-5079
July 1 to Aug 3, 2025
The show, Fox and Friends, bridges work from 2024 to 2025.
I have always been interested in childhood memory and psychology. Fox and Friends connects me back to a series of works that I executed mostly from 2007 to 2016 in which children are the main characters of the paintings The children in this new series are of the more recent past.
Elements of dreams, of fairy tales, and of my own childhood play a significant role. The cassette recorder, bicycles, scooters, and roller skates evoke strong memories of my time as a kid and young teen. The imagery contains aspects of an era, while being combined with the timeless aura of fairy tales.
Not all is well in childhoods of the past or of the present. Among other things of slight unease, there is a link to the wildfires we are experiencing now on a regular basis. Yet, fires in a metaphorical sense can also be cleansing--burning away a vision based in fantasy or old belief patterns .
The most recent work is also a response to the current political climate and my rage at what is happening in this beautiful country of ours. My desire was to draw out the animal in us screaming and howling, expressing raw fireceness as well as presenting bodyguards of a serious but also slightly comical embodiment as liminal beings.
Nevertheless, my work never springs from a cerebral place, but starts from memory, feelings and stories. It is a visceral process and is meant to leave a lot of room for the viewer's individual experience.
Anne Siems, 2025
