OPENING RECEPTION Friday April 13, 7 - 9 PM

The Iridian Gallery at Diversity Richmond presents Wish You Were Here, a solo exhibition
by Savannah, GA-based painter Ben Tollefson. The artist addresses the concepts of paradise, desire, longing and perfection. In relation to the exhibition title, a cliché postcard phrase bordering sincerity and vapidity, the paintings employ a jumbling of body parts and whimsical invented forms, and reference ideas of paradise through symbols like skies, esh, clouds, and rainbows. The artist paints trompe l’oeil collage elements of ‘perfect’ subjects to fantastical ends. Drawing imagery from lifestyle magazines that present contrived concepts of perfection, Tollefson takes ownership of, twists, and recon gures these constructs, creating his own imitation of paradise.

“Wish You Were Here” is curated by Michael-Birch Pierce.