Colossi

With consummate draftsmanship, Rick Shaefer’s Colossi presents a series of monumental landscape drawings, each dominated by an imposing wall that eventually encircles the globe. Past, present, and futuristic machinery coexist, conveying infinite ambition and posing the timeless question: Are we walling in or walling out? The installation includes Shaefer’s poignant drawing Water Crossing from the Refugee Trilogy, and the evocative series Liberty Dismantled. Diagrams and videos explore Shaefer’s art historical inspirations and engage viewers in a meditation on the boundaries that define our world. Shaefer has had solo exhibitions at the Fairfield University Art Museum, the National Academy of Design, and the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.