John Skibo

mtn space gallery is pleased to present Landscape Migration, a new series of paintings by Massachusetts-based artist John Skibo. 

In Skibo’s last exhibition with mtn space, Nothing is Difficult Forever, he utilized distorted figures to present a narrative on portraiture, internal relations, and self-identity. 

In the newest series, he instead pivots toward landscape painting as a vessel to examine the external relationships we all have with our surroundings. While this is an entirely new exploration, the formality of shape from the figurative works seamlessly remains. 

Drawing inspiration from his plein air practice, Skibo painted this series after experiencing a mass migration of monarch butterflies, insects, and seabirds. He seeks to capture the connection between this migration and the traversed landscape. 

Monarchs are a particularly poignant symbol of this connection, as they are believed to use various external cues to make their annual migration, such as the magnetic pull of the earth, air currents, and the position of the sun. 

The monarch’s freedom to travel is also deeply connected to the relatively stable environment they’ve lived in for thousands of years. Landscape Migration honors these connections and serves as a meditation on the question of adaptability in the face of a changing world. 

John Skibo received his BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, with Honors and Distinction. His work has been exhibited extensively at mtn space gallery in Lake Worth Beach, FL, any many galleries across New York and Massachusetts. 

Landscape Migration will open on Saturday, February 17th, from 6-8pm and will be on view through March 30th, 2024.