Behind the Glass is an art show that recently opened at Seattle Center's A/NT Gallery.
Laura Marie Rivera
Behind the Glass is an art show that just opened at Seattle Center's A/NT Gallery. Queen Anne resident and multidisciplinary artist Casy Ailes uses repetition and the hyper focus of a single image of a penguin to center the viewer's attention on the plight of animals in our ever-changing world. The series depicts the life of a penguin through the thick aquarium glass as a metaphor for how the penguin is trapped in the ever-changing waters of today's world.
Ailes says she not only wants to see penguins behind glass.
"Seeing penguins in the wild is paramount to me."
From the thousands of penguin images she has captured, Ailes selected this one from the Woodland Park Zoo because she was captivated by the way that it glides both above and below the surface.
"It has the action of the swimming, the blue, the white, everything," she said.
She then went to work with her recycled canvasses and hundreds and hundreds of prints. The acrylic paint melds with the photo transfers to allow for a world where the penguin is both visible but engulfed in the paint surrounding it.
"I push the medium using subtractive painting techniques until the penguin's presence is no longer intact,” Ailes said.
The show will be up until Jan. 26 at A/NT Gallery 305 Harrison St. They are open Wednesday to Sunday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m.