Exhibitions

RANDY AKERS: SHELTER

L Ross Gallery / 5040 Sanderlin Ave. February 5, 2020 - February 29, 2020

Randy Akers

A shelter can be a roof over your head, sometimes providing comfort, protection, and security. My pictured shelters depict a sense of loss, destruction, or abandonment. The found locations were simple houses, farms, or neighborhoods in stages of disrepair. Of course there is rust, peeling paint, broken windows, and rotting wood. These sites have been discarded for better economic hope and less conflict somewhere else. You see, I know something about these kinds of fading places. My parents and grandparents came from poverty and lived blue-collar, ramshackle lives…survivors of the Great Depression. I mean dirt floors and baths once a week on Saturday nights. I have visited dozens of these sorts of places and all hold a continuing fascination. The commonality is that these structures are simple shapes usually made with hand tools. Some of these were even ordered through a catalogue. Rooflines and front porches remain important and nearby towns always had a main street.

- Randy Akers